Harry Potter and the Shadows of the Past
by sunshine7702
Summary: My version of Harry and gang's fifth year at Hogwarts.


Chapter One: Visions in the Shadows  
  
The sun was beginning to peek over the horizon above the house at Number 4 Private Drive as Harry Potter finished scribbling down an essay on the History of Magic in the 16th century. While most boys Harry's age would be sleeping at this hour, Harry sat under the covers of his bed, furiously trying to stay awake.  
  
"C'mon just one more inch and I can be finished" Harry muttered under his breath.  
  
To the common muggle folk, measuring an essay in inches would seem a little strange. But for Harry it was the way his schoolwork had been for the past 4 years. Harry was afterall not a normal boy. He is gifted, possesing a special talent for magic. Almost 5 years ago Harry found out that he was a wizard, and ever since he has been attending the Hogwarts school for witchcraft and wizardy. But during the summer holidays, Harry was forced to live with his horrible Aunt and Uncle, along with their very overweight and highly spoiled son, Harry's cousin, Dudley. The Dursley's hated magic so much that Harry was forbid from speaking of it while in the presence of their home. This posed a difficult problem for Harry who had to do his homework in secret late at night. However tonights homework at taken much longer then atticipated.  
  
Maybe this was due to the fact that Harry was preoccupied with other thouhts tonight. "I wonder if I should write to Sirus?" Harry thought to himself.  
  
"No, stop it, your being silly, it was just a dream."  
  
Just a dream...... a dream that was so vivid and potent that Harry couldn't possibly forget it, even two nights later:  
  
A women standing in the shadows holding something. A women whose hair was as red as the flames of the hottest fire, a women who.... wait could it be? "Mom?" Harry heard himself whisper, half hoping she would respond. The women turned, held her bundle against her chest and turned into the shadows. A voice..... a distant voice saying "Come now, we need to go or it will be too late....."  
  
"Too late for what?" Harry muttered, frusterated that he couldn't remember the rest of his dream he decided to put his homework away for the night and try to get some sleep.  
  
"That dream must have meant something..." Harry drifed off to sleep, the images from two nights ago still fresh in his mind. Chapter Two: The Dursley's  
  
No sooner then Harry had fallen asleep did he hear his cousin Dudley go downstairs for breakfast. Actually he felt Dudley going down the stairs because Dudley's oversized plump body shook the entire house as he moved. Harry forced himself to wake up and he drug himself down the stairs. He could hear Uncle Vernon in the kitchen saying  
  
"There he is, my big strong birthday boy!!"  
  
"Yeah he's big alright" Harry thought to himself. Today was quite possibly the worst day of Harry's entire summer vacation: Dudley's birthday. This would mean that his Aunt and Uncle would be espically cruel to Harry, Dudley would get everything under the sun, and to make matters worse if anything strange happened Harry would be blamed and locked in the cupboard under the stairs for the remainder of the summer.  
  
As Harry entered the kitchen he saw Dudley already tearing his way through a stack of 15 pancakes.  
  
"Dudley dear, if you need more pancakes I'll be happy to give you some of Harry's, afterall you are the Birthday boy and the birthday boy deserves extra breakfast." Aunt Petunia called to Dudley as soon as Harry was making his way to the table. This was not unusual though, Harry might as well been given rats bones rather then actual food while he was with the Dursleys.  
  
"Alright boy, now when Dudley's friends get here for his party where are you to be?" Uncle Vernon stared Harry straight in his eyes.  
  
"In my room, not making a sound." Harry replied.  
  
"That's right, and any funny stuff and I swear you will never see another ounce of daylight while you are under my roof!!!"  
  
"Yes, Uncle Vernon."  
  
"Well then you better be off, I wouldn't want Dudley to have to spend any more of his birthday with you then he already has."  
  
And with that Harry went back up to his small room. He was only to happy to oblige to Uncle Vernon's request. For once he was going to be able to be free from Dudley's pranks and tantrums, and possibly he would be able to catch up on the sleep he missed while doing his homework last night.  
  
Just then a tapping at his bedroom window caught Harry's attention.  
  
"Pig!!"  
  
A small owl from one of his wizard friends, Ron, was frantically flapping his wings. He had a letter to deliver to Harry. Harry untied the letter and opened it. But Harry was surprised that it was not from Ron, it was from his other friend from school Hermione.  
  
Dear Harry,  
  
Ron let me borrow his owl to send this to you. We are at my parent's vacation house in Madrid. I have been trying to get a hold of you all summer but something seems to be preventing the letter from getting to you. I performed a secrus charm and hopefully the letter will arrive to you. We can talk about the letters later, anyways do you think you could come and stay here? Mrs. Weasly has said that it is ok if you take the Knight bus to Ron's house and then use Foo Powder to travel here and meet Ron and I. Please write back soon with your answer. Hopefully those muggles aren't being too hard on you.  
  
With love,  
  
Hermione  
  
"Wow, Madrid.... Maybe I should write Sirus first and see if it's ok. On the other hand, maybe I should just go. After all the Dursleys wouldn't miss me anyways."  
  
And with that Harry began to gather his belongings and pack them up. Harry was going to be a rebeleous teenager for the first time in his life. He was going to sneak out after the Durselys go to bed tonight and go meet Ron and Hermione. After all, after 15 years of not receiving any Birthday presents from his "family" Harry thought he owed himself this trip. Chapter Three: The Knight Bus  
  
Harry had finished gathering up all of his belongings and he had set them neatly by the door. He decided to lay down on his bed and wait for the Durselys to go to sleep. It had been a very normal day, well as normal as a day could be with the Durselys. For the first time Harry had actually managed to keep to himself and nothing disatorus happened. No one got blown up to the size of a giant blimp. No snakes were set loose and no flying cars came to rescue Harry from his prision. Just a normal ordinary day. Harry heard his uncle close his bedroom door. Harry decided to wait another half hour before heading out. Harry had written a note to the Durselys, afterall he thought it was only proper to tell them he would be back next summer.  
  
I have taken the Knight bus to see my friends in Madrid. See you next summer,  
  
Harry  
  
Harry took the note off of his small desk, gathered up his trunk and Hedwig in her cage and silently crept towards the stairs. He was careful to skip the creaking stair as he tiptoed down to the kitchen. Harry left the note on the table and headed for the door. The door moaned loudly as Harry opened it. Harry froze, listened for signs of his uncle and when he was sure no one had heard him he stepped outside and closed the door behind him.  
  
"Free at last" sighed Harry. Harry went to the street curb, held out his wand and suddenly out of no where the Knight Bus appeared. Stan and Ernie, the drivers Harry had last time were not there though. Instead an older looking witch opened the door for Harry.  
  
"Hello dear, where to?"  
  
"uh, um...." Harry didn't know Ron's address!!! "Well, I don't exactly know the address, but it's the Weasly house."  
  
"Oh yes, I do think I can take you there, I do know the way after all! I'm Zelda by the way, and you are?"  
  
"Harry." He left out Potter for a reason, covered his scar on his forhead with his untidy hair and stepped onto the bus.  
  
Harry packed away his things and setteled into a bed on the bus. As he began to drift off to sleep images came floating across his mind.  
  
A woman, the same woman as the other night, this time her face more defined. Her eyes were a blazing blue, her hair red like a dragons fire. Harry knew this face "Mom, mom is that you?" The women looked desperate as she turned to see a second figure. The second figure was very tall, his dark hair messy. "We must go now, before it's too late" he said to the woman. The woman held her bundle, or was it a bundle, could it possibly be... A baby??? No No, that wasn't it, or was it? The figures were disapering into a swirl of colors. Harry fought hard to see them but they just kept fading into the distance...  
  
"Harry, this is your stop."  
  
Harry awoke with a start, he sat up and realized that Zelda had woken him, he was in front of the Weasly residence. He thanked Zelda, payed her a Galleon and some Sickels and headed for the door of Ron's house.  
  
"Was that really my mother in that dream? What was she holding?" Harry wondered out loud to himself as he approached the front door. Chapter Four: Foo Powder  
  
Mrs. Weasley greeted Harry at the front door. "Hello Harry, I hope you've been having a good summer."  
  
"Yes, and its even better now that I am finally away from the Dursleys."  
  
"I'm glad they agreed to let you go spend the summer in Madrid"  
  
"Uh, yeah.." Harry said trailing off, he wasn't about to tell Mrs. Weasley that he hadn't exactly asked them to go, he really didn't want to hear a lecture right now.  
  
"Ok dear, if you will just leave your things here, I am going to apparate to Madrid and take your things with me. You can use foo powder since you are not allowed to apparate yet. Just remember to say your destination very clearly or else who knows where you might end up."  
  
"Yes, I will be sure," Harry gulped as he recalled his last experience with traveling by foo powder. Somehow he had not stated his destination clearly enough and had ended up in a street behind Diagon Alley, a street full of dark magic. Harry did not wish to end up in a place like that ever again.  
  
Harry stepped up to the fireplace and tossed some foo powder in. The fire glowed a bright green, Harry stepped into the fire and shouted "Granger Vacation House, Madrid" Just then the fire began to swirl around Harry. The fire created a vortex and Harry could feel himself falling faster and faster down into what appeared to be nothingness. Suddenly everything around him went black and Harry fell hard onto a stone floor. He looked up to realize that he had arrived in the fireplace of the Granger's vacation home. After catching his breath and collecting his thoughts Harry stood up. No sooner had he stood up then was he almost knocked over again by one of his best friends.  
  
"Harry you're here!!!!! Oh I was so worried when all of my letters kept coming back to me!" Hermione Granger, one of Harry's best friends from Hogwarts had greeted him with a little overexcitement as she hugged him.  
  
Harry's other best friend, Ron Weasley came strolling up behind her, "Harry just ignore her, she's been freaking out over the little things again. But I suppose if she didn't things wouldn't be fun now would they?" Ron grinned mischievously.  
  
Harry grinned, he was happy to finally be back with his friends. Things tended to get pretty lonely at the Durselys having no one to talk to, or laugh with, Harry was surprised that he managed to stay sane each summer.  
  
"C'mon Harry, I'll show you where to put your things." Ron said leading Harry up the stairs. Harry looked over by the door to see that his things were already there, neatly stacked. "Oh yeah, mum brought those over, she disapparted quickly though because she had to go pick Ginny up from Collin's house."  
  
"Collin Creevy's house?" Harry asked. Collin wasn't exactly Harry's favorite person, well at least he hated it whenever Collin followed him around with his camera and autograph pen. Harry hated being treated like a celebrity because as far as he was concered he was just a normal teenage boy, or at least a normal teenage wizard.  
  
"Yeah, she and a few other of her 4th year friends spent a few days over at his house. His muggle (non magic) parents were delighted to have a bunch of wizard kids over for part of the summer. Thank goodness they can't do any magic or who knows what my dad might have had to fix." Ron's father worked for the Ministry of Magic making sure that magic was not seen by the eyes of the Muggle world. It was for the safety of both the Muggles as well as the wizards and witches that the two worlds be separate from each other, but Harry often wished that they could act together as one world. But Harry supposed that this idea was a topic of conversation with his book smart friend Hermione. Right now Harry wanted to get his things put away and talk with Ron about Quidditch, the most popular wizard sport, and one that Harry was very good at.  
  
After putting his things away Harry went with Ron back downstairs to find Hermione sitting on the couch reading a very large book.  
  
"Hey guys, I just read about this all magical little village on the north side of the city, do you want to go check it out?"  
  
"Sure" Ron and Harry both said together. They loved wizarding towns, they had been allowed to visit Hogsmede, the neighboring town to Hogwarts, but Harry was eager to visit other towns like Hogsmede and see what wonders he might find in the amazing shops.  
  
"Ok then, I'll go let my parents know we are going out then," Hermione headed to the kitchen to tell her parents, Ron and Harry decided to gather up some of their spending money and wait for Hermione outside. Chapter Five: Tinturn Corner  
  
Hermione came outside shutting the front door behind her. "Well and how did you two think you were going to get to this place?" Hermione asked is in her know it all tone.  
  
"Ah, well we were just going to follow you." Ron replied.  
  
"Well had you stayed around long enough you would know that my dad is going to drive us over there, but I suppose that if you two are too good for that, you can just walk." Hermione shot a glare Harry's way.  
  
"Geeze, Herm, calm down. You really don't need to overreact." Harry was confused as to why Hermione was suddenly annoyed with Ron and him.  
  
"Well then c'mon. the car is around the back in the garage."  
  
Harry and Ron followed Hermione to the back of the house. Mr. Granger was waiting for them. Ron and Harry decided to sit in the back, leaving Hermione to have the front to herself so that she could calm down and hopefully realize that she owed them an apology. It didn't take Hermione long to come around. Within five minutes of leaving she was talking excitedly about the town they were going to visit, it was called Tinturn Corner.  
  
"According to The Wizards Travel Guide to Madrid Tinturn has one of the oldest collections of Transfiguration books." Hermione said excitedly.  
  
Ron rolled his eyes, transfiguration was one of his least favorite subjects, it had to be right up there with Divination and Potions. Although Ron decided that Potions wouldn't be that bad if it wasn't for Snape.  
  
Harry grinned to himself, even though it was nice to be away from school he had missed having Hermione around spatting off tidbits of information gathered from what was usually a very large book. At the Durselys all Dudley ever did was imitate movies and get Harry in trouble.  
  
"Ok kids, here we are. Now, I don't 'want you guys wandering off anywhere else, I will be back in three hours to pick you up. Have fun!" Mr. Granger waved as the three of them piled out of the car.  
  
"According to my directions the enterance should be this way," Hermione pointed to a very tall oak tree and began walking towards it. Harry and Ron followed her. Hermione stopped in front of the oak tree, pulled on a branch that almost touched the ground and suddenly a secret door opened to reveal a magical town: Tinturn Corner. Hermione led Ron and Harry through the door, they soon found themselves emersed in the most intresting wizarding town they had ever seen. The local Gringots bank was located at the end of the street. What was even more amazing was the street performers scattered among the streets. Ron saw a wizard stretching himself to the length of a giraffes neck. He quickly joined the crowd of people surronding him. Hermione decided to go into Tinturn Spellbooks and More to check out their collection of transfiguration books. That left Harry standing in the middle of the street taking in the sights that surrounded him. Across the street he could see a young wizard of about twenty selling joke supplies from a small street cart. Harry went over to have a look and found new joke supplies he'd never seen before. One product he particurally liked was the Look Alike Wizard Wand the wand looked like a regular wand, except for when it was used it produced an image of a dancing hippo singing a song that insults whoever had been unforturnate enough to use it. Harry was imagining how great it would be to switch Malfoy's wand for this one. Draco Malfoy had been Harry's enemy ever since his first year at Hogwarts, and while Malfoy tended to try to make life miserable for Harry, Harry had decided that he had better things to do then to get sucked into his foolish and childish challenges. Harry however decided that he would buy 5 wands, two for Fred and George, Ron's older brothers who absoulty loved gag gifts, and three for himself to use whenever he felt necessary, whenever he needed to have a good laugh. After making his purchase, Harry went into the book store to meet up with Ron and Hermione. He found Hermione flipping through yet another large book, but Ron must have still been watching the street perfomers cause he was no where in sight.  
  
"Harry look at this, they tell you how to disguise objects as chocolate candy bars. Wouldn't it be great to get malfoy's wand, turn it into a candy bar, have Crabe and Goyle eat it, and then see the look on his face when he can't complete any of his work!!!!" Hermione was speaking very excitedly now. Harry smiled.  
  
"Yeah that sounds great, but it sounds like something me or Ron would cook up, I think we have been corrupting you Hermione Granger." Harry chuckled and gave Hermione an imitation of a look she would have given him and Ron had they decided to do something like she was suggesting.  
  
"Well, not really corrupting, besides I'm so sick of him, and it would be hilarious." Hermione took the book up to the counter and purchased it. Harry and her then went to find Ron. When they found Ron they were shocked to see him talking to a strange girl.  
  
Chapter Six: Julia  
  
Harry and Hermione walked over to Ron and the girl he was talking to. The girl was pretty tall and had very long brown hair that was in sprial curl ringlets down her back. Ron saw his two friends approach and turned the girl around to meet them.  
  
"Hey guys, this is Julia Evans, she is from the States."  
  
"Hi, nice to meet you," Harry said putting out his hand. Suddenly the scar on his forhead began to feel warm, not like the burning sensation that Harry felt anytime Voldemort or danger was near, this time it felt different. It was almost a good feeling, one that Harry had never experienced before. Harry decided to ignore it.  
  
"Hi, I'm Hermione Granger," Hermione said friendly.  
  
"It's nice to meet both of you, Ron has already told me a little about you two." Julia replied.  
  
"Oh really? Nothing bad I hope?" Harry said jokingly. All four of them laughed.  
  
"Anyways, what I was just telling Ron is that I have been studying at the American Magical Academy in Williamsburg, Virgina for the past four years. This year however I am transferring to Hogwarts to finish out my studies. Ron tells me that the three of you also attend Hogwarts."  
  
"Yes, that's right, so why did you decide to transfer?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Well I've heard that Hogwarts is one of the best wizarding schools in the world, and I have always wanted to visit Europe so I decided it would be an excellent oppritunity to study in Europe."  
  
"Ah I see, so what subjects do you like best?"  
  
"Well I am really fond of Transfiguration and Arthimacy, but those tend to come second after playing Quidditch."  
  
For a moment Hermione thought that she was going to get along very well with Julia, but then quidditch came up and suddenly Hermione lost intrest, it wasn't that Hermione didn't like quidditch, she just didn't play it and couldn't really relate as well to it as some of the other students at Hogwarts. However as soon as Julia metioned quidditch Harry came to life.  
  
"Really? I play seeker for the Gryfindor team, what postion do you usually play?"  
  
"I play keeper. Wow your a seeker, what kind of broom are you using?"  
  
"A firebolt, what about you?"  
  
"I'm using the Nimbus 2001 right now however I've been looking to try to upgrade mine." And with that Julia and Harry were lost in a conversation over Quidditch tactics and the various new brooms on the market. Ron soon joined the conversation leaving Hermione standing there wondering if her friends even knew she still existed. Finally Hermione looked at her watch and realized that her dad was going to be picking them up in ten minutes.  
  
"Hey guys, my dad's going to be back in ten minutes so we better get going."  
  
"Oh, sorry Hermione, we kinda left you out didn't we?" Ron said innocently.  
  
"That's alright, but we better get going." So the three of them said goodbye to Juila and made their way back to the entrance of Tinturn Corner. They exited through the same large oak tree and found themselves back in muggle Madrid. Hermione's dad was already waiting for them. The three of them piled back into the car, excitdely discussing the events of the day. Chapter Six: Julia  
  
Harry and Hermione walked over to Ron and the girl he was talking to. The girl was pretty tall and had very long brown hair that was in sprial curl ringlets down her back. Ron saw his two friends approach and turned the girl around to meet them.  
  
"Hey guys, this is Julia Evans, she is from the States."  
  
"Hi, nice to meet you," Harry said putting out his hand. Suddenly the scar on his forhead began to feel warm, not like the burning sensation that Harry felt anytime Voldemort or danger was near, this time it felt different. It was almost a good feeling, one that Harry had never experienced before. Harry decided to ignore it.  
  
"Hi, I'm Hermione Granger," Hermione said friendly.  
  
"It's nice to meet both of you, Ron has already told me a little about you two." Julia replied.  
  
"Oh really? Nothing bad I hope?" Harry said jokingly. All four of them laughed.  
  
"Anyways, what I was just telling Ron is that I have been studying at the American Magical Academy in Williamsburg, Virgina for the past four years. This year however I am transferring to Hogwarts to finish out my studies. Ron tells me that the three of you also attend Hogwarts."  
  
"Yes, that's right, so why did you decide to transfer?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Well I've heard that Hogwarts is one of the best wizarding schools in the world, and I have always wanted to visit Europe so I decided it would be an excellent oppritunity to study in Europe."  
  
"Ah I see, so what subjects do you like best?"  
  
"Well I am really fond of Transfiguration and Arthimacy, but those tend to come second after playing Quidditch."  
  
For a moment Hermione thought that she was going to get along very well with Julia, but then quidditch came up and suddenly Hermione lost intrest, it wasn't that Hermione didn't like quidditch, she just didn't play it and couldn't really relate as well to it as some of the other students at Hogwarts. However as soon as Julia metioned quidditch Harry came to life.  
  
"Really? I play seeker for the Gryfindor team, what postion do you usually play?"  
  
"I play keeper. Wow your a seeker, what kind of broom are you using?"  
  
"A firebolt, what about you?"  
  
"I'm using the Nimbus 2001 right now however I've been looking to try to upgrade mine." And with that Julia and Harry were lost in a conversation over Quidditch tactics and the various new brooms on the market. Ron soon joined the conversation leaving Hermione standing there wondering if her friends even knew she still existed. Finally Hermione looked at her watch and realized that her dad was going to be picking them up in ten minutes.  
  
"Hey guys, my dad's going to be back in ten minutes so we better get going."  
  
"Oh, sorry Hermione, we kinda left you out didn't we?" Ron said innocently.  
  
"That's alright, but we better get going." So the three of them said goodbye to Juila and made their way back to the entrance of Tinturn Corner. They exited through the same large oak tree and found themselves back in muggle Madrid. Hermione's dad was already waiting for them. The three of them piled back into the car, excitdely discussing the events of the day. Chapter Seven: Questions  
  
When Harry, Ron and Hermione arrived back at the house they went into the kitchen to find that Mrs. Granger had fixed a snack for them. The trio sat around the kitchen table and continued to discuss the events of the day.  
  
"So do you think there are going to be any spots open for Julia on the Quidditch team?" Ron asked.  
  
"What makes you think she's going to be in Gryfindor?" Hermione said hotly.  
  
"Whoa guys calm down. Since we didn't have Quidditch last year I know for sure that keeper is open, I'm not sure about the chaser positions and we do need a new captain."  
  
"Yeah, Fred and George have been trying to figure out how many free things from their joke shop they are going to have to give away during their campaign for Quiddtich Captain." Ron continued, "Anyways, Julia seemed nice, it's exciting to meet transfer students from other countries."  
  
"Oh geeze Ron, you just liked the way she was flirting with you!" Hermione was getting impatient with the topic of conversation.  
  
"And you sound jealous my dear!"  
  
"Ok you two, would you please STOP it!" The last thing Harry wanted was another argurment in which Ron and Hermione would refuse to speak to each other. Harry couldn't help but think about the way his scar had reacted when Hermione and him approached Julia in the street of Tinturn Corner. He couldn't decide what it was supposed to mean. "Hey guys, did you think there was anything strange about Julia?"  
  
"Other then the fact that she was throwing herself all over Ron, I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary."  
  
"Hermione, geeze, give it up! And to answer your question Harry, I didn't find anything strange about her."  
  
"Well maybe that's because you were to busy staring at her!"  
  
"You know Hermione, you really have some nerve!" Ron was finally fed up with Hermione's behavior and decided to head off to his room. Harry and Hermione sat there for a while not saying anything. Hermione finally broke the silence, "Harry did you find something strange about her?"  
  
"Well, uh, maybe, probably not, I'm probably just overreacting."  
  
"Harry, if something is wrong then you need to tell me, you always seem to have an intution about people and things that might be dangerous."  
  
"Well I don't think she's dangerous though, I don't know. My scar started feeling weird though as soon as we approached her and Ron."  
  
"Burning?"  
  
"No, it was warm feeling, but it was tingling, it's never done that before. I don't know if I should take it as a warning or what."  
  
"Hum, that's strange alright. Maybe you should write Sirus."  
  
"Yeah, good idea, I didn't even tell him I was going to be in Madrid, I just decided to leave on my own."  
  
"HARRY!"  
  
Harry knew he shouldn't have told Hermione that, he was now sure to get a lecture from her about how his life is still in danger and he should have let Sirus know to make sure it was safe. But Harry didn't have time for one of her lectures right now, he quickly headed off to his room to write a letter to Sirus. Dear Sirus,  
  
I was invited by Hermione to come to Madrid for the summer, I am here now. I am sorry I didn't write to you to ask for permission first but I really needed to get away from the Dursleys. Anyways Ron is also here and we have been having lots of fun. We went and visited a wizard town called Tinturn Corner and Ron met this girl named Julia Evans. Anyways when I approached her to talk to her and Ron my scar started to feel funny. It didn't burn like before, it felt warm and tingly instead. I was just wondering if you know what this could mean, I don't know if I should trust this girl or not. She is transferring to Hogwarts for this next year and I need to know if I should be cautious of her or not. I hope that you and Buckbeak are still doing fine. Once again I'm sorry for not staying in touch like I should, I promise I won't leave Madrid until we go to buy school supplies in two weeks.  
  
Love,  
  
Harry  
  
Hermione decided that while the boys were, well being boys she would go and finish her essay for Professor Binns on the History of magical siblings in the 1600's. She opened up a book to a page about the famous Ballard twins of France. Something on the page caught her eye, Nicholas had a scar in the shape of a star on the back of his left shoulder, whenever danger approached that scar began to burn, hence Nicholas had the upper hand in many battles because he knew about them ahead of time. But the weird thing was that Nicholas could sence the presence of his twin brother Seth when the scar began to tingle.  
  
"Could this be happening to Harry?" Hermione wandered aloud to herself.. Hermione brushed this thought aside, after all she knew well that Harry had no family other then his muggle aunt and uncle. And if she metioned this to Harry he might get his hopes up for having other family somewhere, and the last time he was let down he was miserable, Hermione didn't think it was fair for her to put him through that again. Hermione put her essay away and went back downstairs to help her mother with dinner. The two boys soon followed.  
  
"Hey uh, Hermione, I'm sorry about eairler, I shouldn't have gotten mad at you, you were just joking around."  
  
"I'm sorry too Ron, I shouldn't have been joking around like that."  
  
"Ok, so now that you guys are friends again I guess I should give you these," Harry was holding three Hogwarts letters in his hands. "When I sent Hedwig off with the letter to Sirus, a schoool owl delievered these."  
  
Hermione and Ron took theirs. The letters were the standard list of supplies that they would need for their fifth year at Hogwarts.  
  
"Oh no," moaned Ron, "Look it says we need dress robes!"  
  
"Oh good, we must be having another dance!" Hermione was now excited.  
  
Harry and Ron rolled their eyes, they weren't too fond of the last dance that Hogwarts had held, and they defiantly didn't want to relive that experience. Harry was a little glad though that the dances this year would be optional this year for him. He was forced to attend the Yule ball last year because he was one of the champions in the Triwizard tournament, but this year hopefully he wouldn't have to attend any of the dances.  
  
"Ok so I guess we should be leaving the day after next so that you kids can get your school supplies." Mrs. Granger said as she piled some mashed potatoes onto everyone's plates. "That means tomorrow you better start getting your things ready to go, or else who knows how long it will take you to get ready." Mrs. Granger looked straight at Hermione as she said this. Harry and Ron chuckled.  
  
After dinner Harry and Ron sat down and played some wizards chess, Hermione sat in a large overstuffed chair reading a rather large book. Harry and Ron didn't ask what it was about because frankly they didn't really want to know. As the evening grew later and later the games of wizards chess became shorter and shorter as Harry and Ron got tired of thinking each move through. Hermione fell asleep in her chair reading her book, and Mr. And Mrs. Granger had decided to call it a night and go up to bed. Harry and Ron put their game away and then had to decide what to do with Hermione.  
  
"Should we wake her?" asked Harry.  
  
"What do you mean WE? I'm not waking her, she'll probably slap me, you go do it," Ron protested.  
  
Before Harry could argue with him Ron was already half way up the stairs heading off to his room. Harry muttered "unbelievable" under his breath as he went over to Hermione.  
  
He gently nugged her "Hermione, why don't you go sleep in your room."  
  
"What, oh, wow I guess I fell asleep. Thank you for waking me Harry. I guess I should be off to my room, I'll see you in the morning." So Hermione headed up the stairs to her room, Harry followed close behind. He was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open long enough to make it to his bed. Chapter Eight: Shadows  
  
Harry had barely closed his eyes when the same images came flooding to his head. The same woman was standing in the shadows. This time Harry could see that her face was frightend. No not frightenend, it was worse then that, she had the look of absolute terror on her face. Her face, Harry was trying to concentrate on her face, it was so familiar.  
  
"Mom, Mom is that you?"  
  
Suddenly the woman turned to see the man rushing up from her right side, he had curly black hair and bright emerald green eyes. For a moment Harry thought he was seeing himself as an adult, he thought that maybe this was some kind of futuristic vision.  
  
Lily!! We have to go now or Voldemort will kill her!!!  
  
It was then that Harry realized that this wasn't him, it was his father. The woman was defiantly his mother, Lily. Harry called out again. "Mom, mom, dad can you hear me? It's harry!" But the figures in his dream didn't hear him, they had no response what so ever. Suddenly they turned and disappered into a swirl of shadows. Harry awoke with a start.  
  
Harry kept replaying the dream over and over. Something wasn't right, in the dream his father had said Voldemort will kill her . Who could his father have been talking about. Was it a child they were trying to save? Harry now knew that the bundle in his mother's arms was defintatly a baby. But was it a friends child that they were trying to save? Or was it their own....... "No" he thought aloud, "I was their only child, they must be helping someone else." Harry turned back over and tried to go to sleep. The images of his dream did not return again that night but they were still very fresh in Harry's memory. Chapter Nine: Diagon Alley.  
  
Harry was awakend the next morning by Ron pounding on the door to his bedroom.  
  
"Harry, Harry get up, we've got to leave in fifteen minutes!!!!!!!!!"  
  
Harry rubbed his eyes and looked around. He had forgotten that today was the day they would be leaving Madrid to go to Diagon Alley in London to buy their school supplies. Harry quickly dressed and got Hedwig into her cage. He then threw the rest of his belongings haphazardly into his truck and began to hall his things downstairs. Hermione was of course already packed to go. In fact her things had been ready the night before. Harry joined Hermione by the fireplace where she was preparing the foo powder for its use. Ron was last to join them, he was still fighting with his tiny owl, Pig, trying to get him to go into his small cage. The three of them bid goodbye to Mr and Mrs. Granger, the Granger's would be using Muggle air transportation to return home. Meanwhile Hermione handed some foo powder to Harry and Ron. They gathered up their things and stepped towards the fire, Hermione went first.  
  
"Diagon Alley!" She shouted as she stepped into the green flames. Everything around her began to spin as she traveled through world known only to wizards. Suddenly everything around her stopped and she stepped out into the lobby of the Leaky Cauldron resteraunt, located at the head of Diagon Alley. Harry and Ron soon arrived behind her. When the three of them had made sure all of their belongings had made it, Harry went to see Tom, the innkeeper. Tom arranged three rooms for them, Harry and Ron quickly went up and set their things down. Hermione however had to organize all of her belongings in her room before she went back down to join the boys.  
  
"What in the world is that girl doing up there!" exclaimed Ron.  
  
"She's probably arguing with the talking mirror as to what she should do with her hair" Harry said sarcastically.  
  
"Oh good, she's going to be up there for HOURS! That's one fight that neither the mirror nor Hermione is going to win!"  
  
"Um, excuse me Ron, what were you just saying?" Ron turned around to find Hermione standing with her arms crossed looking very smug at him.  
  
"Now if you two boys are ready to act your age, should we head to gringots to get our money?"  
  
"Yeah, I guess we should, I told mum I would meet her in front at noon, and that's in three minutes." Ron always dreaded this part of the trip. Even though his father worked for the ministry of magic Ron's family had been pretty poor all of his life. Ron had grown up with second hand robes and books, and of course the teasing that came along with it. Ron was embarrassed espically when Harry was there because the Weasly family vault at Gringots was always very empty whereas Harry's vault contained enough money to last him a life time. By the time they had arrived at the bank, Mrs. Weasly along with Ron's older twin brothers Fred and George and his younger sister Ginny were waiting.  
  
"Hello Ron, so did you find any unusual prank items in Madrid?" George was excited to find out if there was anything new to put into his and Fred's joke shop.  
  
"Yeah, Harry and I picked up a few things, we'll show you when we get back to the Leaky Cauldron."  
  
"Excellent" replied Fred.  
  
"Hello dears, I hope your trip was good," Mrs. Weasly greeted Ron, Harry and Hermione with a hug, Ron turned beat red, Harry and Hermione didn't mind.  
  
"Yes it was great." Ron said.  
  
"Well, I guess we should get going so that we can get all of your school things bought in time to go back and get some dinner."  
  
The group walked up the stairs to the entrance of the large gringots wizard bank. Ginny held back to talk to Harry.  
  
"So Harry, what did you see in Madrid?" Ginny asked nervously.  
  
"Well, we saw a wizards village, and a lot of landmarks and sites in the muggle city. So how was your summer?"  
  
With this question Ginny turned beat red. "Uh, fine." She soon picked up her pace to walk with her mother at the front of the group.  
  
Harry just chuckled to himself, he knew that Ginny had a crush on him, and he felt kind of bad that Ginny knew Harry didn't have a crush back on her. But he decided that she would get over it eventually.  
  
After dealing with the Goblins at the front desks of Gringots, the group was taken by a mineshaft kind of car deep into the bank where the vaults were held. Hermione was first, she got out, gathered up some wizards money into a small bag and returned to the group. Harry's vault was next. Harry hated opening his vault in front of his friends, he always felt guilty when he opened his vault to find it filled to the brim with Galleons and Sickels. Harry tried not to open the door too wide, quickly slipped in and gathered some money. Harry returned to the car quickly. The Weasley vault was last. Mrs. Weasley also hated this part of the trip, but for the entire opposite reason then Harry had. She hated knowing the fact that there was not much money in the vault and she hated when people felt sorry for her or her family. She tried to slip into the vault in the same kind of fashion that Harry had done in his. Even though the door was not open very wide Harry could see that Mrs. Granger was scraping the small pile of galleons from the corner of the vault so that she would be able to buy school supplies for four of her children Everyone seemed to be happier when the bank trip was done. Fred and George set off to purchase their final sets of books for Hogwarts, this is the twin's seventh and last year before they graduate from the wizards school. Ginny and her mother set off to the robe store to get Ginny a set of dress robes. Ron, Hermione and Harry decided to head to the book store as well to pick up their fifth year books. After purchasing their books, Hermione dragged Harry and Ron with her to the robe shop. Hermione was on a mission to buy new dress robes, and much to the boys' dismay she spent almost a half an hour trying on various robes and then showing them. Harry and Ron offered the same opinion of "yes, that one looks good." Everytime because they didn't want to insult her in any way. Hermione finally decided on a deep blue robe with gentle embroidery around the neckline. Relieved that Hermione was finally done shopping Harry and Ron headed for the Leaky Cauldron to put their school supplies in their trunks. Hermione decided to go with Ginny to get some ice cream.  
  
Everyone soon met up again at the Leaky Cauldron to have dinner. Fred and George were excitidely planning out their last year at Hogwarts. Mr. Weasley had joined the group and was discussing his ministry work with his wife. Ginny and Hermione were discussing the school dances that Hogwarts might be having in the upcoming year while Ron and Harry were into a deep conversation about Quidditch. At the end of the evening everyone headed up stairs for bed. A good night sleep was in order for everyone so that they were ready to head to King's Cross station in the morning to catch the Hogwarts Express.  
  
Chapter Ten: The Hogwarts Express.  
  
Hermione woke up early the next morning. She was excited to be returning to Hogwarts and couldn't wait to board the train at the Kings Cross Station. She quickly gathered up her things and went downstairs to reserve a table for breakfast for the rest of the group. Hermione waited for a long time in the resteraunt until she finally heard Mr. And Mrs. Weasley get up, along with Ginny. They came down and joined Hermione, but of course the boys were still asleep. Hermione by this time was tapping her foot impatiently, she just knew that they were going to be late because Harry and Ron never packed early and they were taking the extra luxery of sleeping in. Much to her surprise Ron and Harry were seen coming down to breakfast with Fred and George close behind not more then a minute later. What really surprised Hermione, and even Mrs. Granger was the fact that the boys were carrying their belongings with them, packed and ready to go. Hermione was certain that it was a new record for them and she thought to herself that maybe summer had given them the time they needed to grow up. But Hermione had thought this too soon, because as soon as she looked back, Fred and George were trying to trip each other and Harry and Ron were already talking about nothing other then Quidditch. Hermione rolled her eyes and sat down next to Ginny.  
  
"Hello Ginny, are you excited to start your fourth year?"  
  
"Yes, I'm looking forward to being able to attend the dances this year."  
  
"Yeah, the Yule ball was spectacular last year."  
  
The two girls continued to emerse themselves in conversations about various Hogwarts formal functions as the boys sat down at the table.  
  
"Well are you two ladies going to acknowledge us or are we just going to live on two separate planets today?" Asked Fred rather offended that his presence at the table had not been acknowledged.  
  
"Well, it's nice of you to finally say good morning," remarked Hermione. "Although I will give you credit that I am impressed that all four of you are packed and ready to go, and we haven't even had breakfast yet!"  
  
"Yeah well, you know we are excited to go to Hogwarts" said Ron.  
  
"Yeah, Ron tells us that transfer students are being allowed to attend Hogwarts this year" said George, "We are just excited to meet new people. So Ron, does this Julia girl you met have an older sister?" With this comment Hermione rolled her eyes and went back to talking to Ginny. Harry was unusually quiet this morning. He couldn't help but think about yet another dream that he had the previous night.  
  
A women, this time defiantly holding a baby. The distinct outline of the baby wrapped in a blanket was clear in this image. The women, who looked remarkably like Harry's mother was terrified, and the man who was tall, but still unclear in the shadows was speaking urgently. This time though, the man kissed the women on the cheek, told her everything was going to be ok. Then he looked at the baby and said "Goodbye my little precious one, I will always love you little Jewels." And then everything went foggy again.  
  
So the baby's name must be Jewels, and those must have been her parents, but why were they running away so urgently, and where were they taking her? Harry's mind was racing with a thousand thoughts. Maybe they were being threatened by Lord Vold-  
  
"Harry, Harry, is everything Ok?" Hermione said tapping him on the shoulder, interrupting him from his train of thought. "You haven't said a word all morning."  
  
"Oh, uh yeah, everythings fine, I'm just a little tired I guess."  
  
Harry pushed his thoughts of his dream out of his mind, as he ate his breakfast of eggs and toast. After breakfast was complete, the group headed out to the street of Muggle London to pile into the two black muggle cars that the Ministry of Magic had provided. Mr. Granger drove the boys in one car while Mrs. Granger took the two girls and some of the luggage that didn't fit in the first car. The separtation between the girls and the boys wasn't dilerbrate, but Hermione and Ginny were enjoying their "girl" conversation, while the boys were, well just being boys. So the car trips to Kings Cross station continued in the same manner. The two cars finally arrived at King's Cross. They still had 25 minutes to catch the train that left from platform 9 ¾. Mr. Weasley found carts for everyone to load their luggage on, after pushing their luggage through the crowds of muggles and their luggage, the group finally arrived that the dividing panel in between platforms 9 and 10. Fred and George went through the barrier (invisible to muggle eyes) first. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were next. Harry and Hermione went next while Ron and his Father were the last to go through the barrier. Once through the barrier they saw the magnificent scarlet train, better known as the Hogwarts Express. After bidding Mr. And Mrs. Weasley goodbye and loading their belongings onto the train, the group of six boarded the train. Fred and George quickly met up with some of their seventh year friends and headed to a compartment towards the back of the train. Ginny ran into Collin Creevy and a few of her other fourth year friends and followed them to a compartment up front. That left Harry, Ron, and Hermione to themselves as they headed off towards their usual compartment on the Hogwarts Express. Once inside the compartment they settled in for the exciting trip to Hogwarts.  
  
"So I wonder who will be taking over the Defense Against the Dark Arts postion?" Hermione asked.  
  
"I don't know, but I sure as heck hope its not someone like Lockhart, or worse, Snape." Harry replied.  
  
The three of them chuckled as they recalled the memories of the crazy Professor Lockhart in their second year, and also as they pictured the look on Snape's face at the start of term banquet when he had yet again been passed up for the position.  
  
Just then a girl poked her head into their compartment, "Hello, I was wondering if I could travel in here with you?"  
  
Ron immediately recognized her as being Julia Evans, the transfer student he had met in Madrid. "Yeah sure, come on in."  
  
As the train pulled out of the King's Cross station Ron was busy explaining to Julia all about Hogwarts. Hermione was anxtious to hear about the United States, meanwhile Harry stared out the window, looking at the passing landscapes, still pondering his reoccurring dream.  
  
"Wow, Hogwarts sounds so exciting. I really hope I get sorted into Gryfindor, you guys are so nice. I thought it was going to be hard to meet people when I transferred, thanks for being so friendly with me."  
  
"Oh of course!" said Hermione "I'm so excited that you are into arthimacy, maybe we could study together!"  
  
"Sure I would love that!"  
  
"So did your friends back home call you Julia or do you have a nickname?"  
  
"Well, a few of my close friends called me a nickname but it's really kind of dumb."  
  
"It can't be as dumb as 'Herm' which is what I get from these two a lot" Hermione said indicating to Ron and Harry.  
  
"Oh I don't know, mine might win."  
  
"Well then, what is it?"  
  
"They call me Jewels."..................  
  
  
  
Chapter Eleven: Arrival  
  
Harry did a double take, had he really just heard Julia say that her nickname was Jewels? Harry's head was swirling with questions, could she really be the girl from his dream? If she was then why was his mother and father in the dream, and why were they taking her away? Harry wished Sirus would answer his letter, it had been almost three weeks and Harry still had not heard from him. This was not uncommon however because Sirus was in hiding and could very well be in hiding somewhere very far away, but Harry would still feel better if Sirus would just answer his letter.  
  
Hermione must have seen the disturbed look on Harry's face, she tapped him gently on the shoulder "Harry, is everything ok?"  
  
Harry was startled, but looked at her and said "Uh, yeah Herm, everythings fine. We are almost there, I guess I'm just a little anxious."  
  
Hermione forced a smile as she turned back to talk to Julia. She knew something was wrong though, Harry had been acting very strange for the past week or so. She was going to make a point of talking to him once they were settled into the Gryfindor common room at Hogwarts once again.  
  
Somehow Harry also knew that Hermione didn't believe him. [I] Should I tell her about my dream? Maybe she could help, or offer a suggestion, Hermione always knows what to do [/I] Harry was so busy thinking about if he should talk to Hermione that he didn't even notice the train pull into the station.  
  
"Harry, oh Harry, is anyone home in there?" Ron was tapping his wand on Harry's head.  
  
"Oh, yeah, I guess I just zoned out for a while." Harry relplied immediately.  
  
Harry and Ron exited the train to find that Hermione and Julia were already waiting for them on the platform. Just then Harry heard a familiar voice in the darkness.  
  
"Firs years, this way!" It was Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper and good friend of Harry, Ron and Hermione. Hagrid led the first year students to the castle every year by the traditional boat trip across the lake.  
  
Harry also heard a second voice, this one also familiar, but one that Harry hadn't heard since his third year. "All new transfer students please follow me this way!" The voice unmistakably belonged to non other then Oliver Wood, the former Quidditch captain of Gyrfindor who had graduated Hogwarts in Harry's third year. Harry wondered why Oliver was there, hopefully he wasn't the new defense against the dark arts teacher, but then again anyone was better then Snape.  
  
Harry followed Ron and Hermione to an empty horseless carriage that would take them and the other students to the castle for the beginning of the year feast.  
  
"Harry, was that Oliver Wood out there!" Ron asked excitdedly.  
  
"Yeah, I think so, I haven't figured out why though" said Harry.  
  
"Well I was reading in the Daily Prophet that Hogwarts would be having a new postion, it's a postion appointed by the Ministry to be in charge of the transfer students at Hogwarts." Hermione piped up.  
  
"How can Wood be in charge of students, he just graduated less then two years ago?" Ron asked.  
  
"I think they mean more of a contact person for the transfer students. You know someone who will help them get transferred into Hogwarts and who will answer any questions and provide assistance when needed."  
  
"Oh, I see." Ron just smiled and nodded, a signal to Harry to change the subject.  
  
Harry got the hint, "Hey, uh Hermione, what house do you think Julia is going to be in?"  
  
"Why do you care Harry, are you trying to replace me?"  
  
"No, I was just making conversation" Harry said, stunned.  
  
"Yeah conversation about that pretty American girl all the boys just can't stop staring at."  
  
"Hermione, calm down, it was just a question."  
  
"I mean, geeze Harry, do you not even care about me or what I'm doing anymore, all you and Ron talk about is Quidditch and that girl!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
"Hermione I didn't mean it......"  
  
"Yeah, whatever Harry, you never mean it that way!" Just then the carriages arrived at the front gates the castle. Hermione quickly got out and left Harry and Ron sitting there looking at each other, both very bewildered.  
  
"What was with that?" Ron asked.  
  
"I don't know." Harry said. Harry began to get out of the carriage muttering "Girls are such a pain."  
  
Chapter Twelve: Hogwarts.  
  
Harry and Ron followed a group of Hogwarts fifth year students to the Great Hall where the sorting ceremony was about to take place. When they entered they found Hermione sitting alone towards the far end of the Gyrfindor table. Ron looked at Harry, Harry shrugged and followed Ron towards Hermione. Ron sat next to Hermione not saying a word while Harry sat on the other side of Ron. The three said nothing to each other, they just sat there in silence.  
  
Meanwhile Oliver Wood had lead the transfer students into the main entrance of Hogwarts. "Welcome to Hogwarts, in a few moments we will follow the first year students into the Great Hall for the sorting ceremony. You will then be sorted into your houses where you will live during the duration of your stay here at Hogwarts. You will attend classes with students from your house and each house will earn points for their success and lose points as a punishment for rule breaking or other violations. At the end of the year the house with the most points wins the house cup award. This is always a very important competion here at Hogwarts so I would advise all of you to quickly familarize yourself with the procedures here at Hogwarts so you do not suffer any point losses for your house." Just as Oliver was finishing his little speech, Professor McGonagall began to lead her group of first year students into the great hall, Oliver followed leading his group of transfer students.  
  
The first year students were sorted into their various houses, thankfully there were less Syltherines this year. Slytherine was the most hated of the houses in Hogwarts and many of the students believed it was cursed by dark magic because many Slytherines became dark wizards upon graduation from Hogwarts. Harry hated Slytherine because of the way he was treated by Professor Snape and Draco Malfoy, a sullen and cold blooded Slytherine fifth year student. Once the first year students had taken their seats among their respectful houses the transfer students were called one by one up to the sorting hat.  
  
"Anderson, Robert" GRYFINDOR  
  
"Bailey, Melissa"  
  
HUFFLEPUFF  
  
"Coleman, Aleah." HUFFLEPUFF  
  
"Davison, Kevin."  
  
RAVENCLAW  
  
"Evans, Jordan" RAVENCLAW  
  
"Hum, isn't that Julia's last name?" Asked Ron.  
  
"I think so , but I guess it's a pretty common last name, I wonder if he is her brother though." Harry said curiously.  
  
Harry held his breath as the next student was called.....  
  
"Evans, Julia" GRYFINDOR  
  
Harry didn't know if he should be exicted that Julia was joining them or if he should dread her because of the strange and eery feeling that he got every time when she was around. Ron was of course very happy to have the beautiful Julia join the Gryfindors but the look on Hermione's face was defiantly that of jealously.  
  
Once the transfer students had been sorted, Professor Dumbledor stood up to address the school.  
  
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. I would like to welcome all of our new students. Some of you may have noticed that some older students have joined us this year. The reason for this is that Hogwarts is now accepting transfer students from around the world. I'm sure these new students, both first years and transfer students will be a great additon here to the school. Just a reminder for everyone that the forbidden forest is strictly off limits and there is to be no wondering around in the corridors after 9:00 pm." Dumbledor gave Ron and Harry a very firm and reminding look. "Well then, let's eat" Dumbledor said the words "Chocalate drops" and suddenly a large feast appeared on each of the tables. The food was piled almost a foot high, Harry loved this part of school the most, well at least he had liked it in past years. Harry was so preoccupied with thoughts of his dream that he just wasn't really in the mood for a large dinner.  
  
Julia meanwhile was sitting with Fred and George Weasly across the table enjoying the delicious feast. Ron was talking quietly to Julia and his brothers while Hermione and Harry just sat siltently.  
  
Before anyone knew it the feast had ended and they were on their way back up to their common rooms for another year at Hogwarts. Harry was hoping that nothing would go wrong this year, but somehow Harry just knew that this school year was going to be one of the wildest years yet.  
  
Chapter Thirteen: Something Strange  
  
Once Harry entered the Gryfindor common room he noticed that Hermione was sitting by herself, in her usual corner. Harry decided that he would go appoligize to Hermione, after all Harry could see how she could be jealous of a new student trying to become friends with Ron and himself.  
  
"Hey Hermione, listen I just wanted to say I'm sorry."  
  
"Sorry for what?" Listen, I shouldn't have yelled at you, you didn't do anything, I just overreacted."  
  
"That's ok Herm, I deserved to be yelled at, lately Ron and I have been so preoccupied with other things that we seem to be leaving you out, you had every right to be mad."  
  
"Well I guess so, listen Harry I did overreact though, there's no reason you and Ron can't be friends with both me and Julia, afterall I suppose it is hard to come to a new school and not know anyone."  
  
"Well actually Herm, I kinda wanted to talk to you about Julia" Harry said deciding that he was going to tell Hermione everything about the dreams he had been having.  
  
"If you are going to ask me for advice on how to get her to date you then you better get lost before I make you so sorry you ever got up this morning."  
  
"No, it's not even remotely close to that subject, do you remember when I told you about my scar feeling funny when you and I approached her in Madrid?"  
  
"Yes, I remember."  
  
"Ok well what I didn't tell you is that I've been having this dream, that keeps coming back to me. And everytime its more vivid and clear then it was the time before."  
  
"A dream about Julia?"  
  
"Well that's what I don't know. It always starts out with this women among swirling shadows. The last time I had the dream the woman was defiantly holding a baby. She looks panicked and holds the baby close. The strange thing is the woman looks so much like my mother."  
  
"Well is she holding you then?"  
  
"That's where this gets even stranger, the next part of the dream is always a tall wizard, who looks like my father, he tells the woman that they have to leave now or Voldemort will kill [I] her [/I] and he indicates to the baby."  
  
"So then it's not you, so then it must not be your parents."  
  
"Well I would come to that conclusion except that our last night in Madrid I heard the man call the woman Lily and tell her that they had to go."  
  
"Oh. and your mom's name was Lily, so then are you sure that your father is the man?"  
  
"Pretty sure, I mean it looks similar to the pictures that Sirus gave me."  
  
"Ok so where does Julia fit into all of this?"  
  
"Last night I had the dream again, only this time I heard everything my father said. He told my mom that she needed to go. He then looked at the baby, and said that he would always love his little precious one [I] Jewels [/I].."  
  
"And Julia's nickname is Jewels!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
"Yeah, that's why I was so startled on the train, this dream is obviously happening for a reason and I just have this feeling that she must be involved somehow."  
  
"Could your parents maybe have been trying to help friends of theirs? Maybe they were protecting the daughter of some old friends. I don't know."  
  
"I don't know either. I wrote to Sirus after that weird feeling I got in Madrid but he hasn't written back yet."  
  
"Oh of course!!!!" Hermione exclaimed as she jumped up from her spot and ran off to her room.  
  
"What a min..... ugh... I hate when she does that" Harry sighed.  
  
Hermione returned almost as quicky as she had disappeared with a large book in hand. Somehow this didn't surprise Harry. "I came across something when I was finishing that essay for The History of Magic."  
  
"Which essay?" Harry said bewildered as he remember that he still had one more to finish before his first class tomorrow.  
  
"The one on Magical Siblings in the 16th century. I was reading about the Ballard twins in France. Nicholas had a scar of a star on the back of his left shoulder. He could sense when his twin brother Seth was near, in trouble, in danger, etc. He reportadley felt a tingly feeling everytime his brother was near, which helped them to find their ways through many of the old catacombs that lie underneath Paris. I found this the day you told me what your scar had done but I didn't think anything of it till now."  
  
"Wait a minute Herm, are you saying that I might be experiencing something similar? But what about the dream, what does that mean?"  
  
"I don't know, but maybe this is a starting place." Hermione was silently thinking for a moment. "Harry, what was your mother's maiden name?"  
  
"Her what.?" Harry asked completely clueless.  
  
"Her last name before she married your father."  
  
"Oh, I think it was Evans, yeah that sounds right, Lily Evans....." Harry trailed off as both he and Hermione looked at each other and said together in unison.  
  
"Julia's last name is EVANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
Chapter Fourteen: Owl Post  
  
Harry and Hermione had stayed up until the very early hours of the morning brainstorming the possible explanations for his dream as well as Julia's last name. They had finally decided that their was an endless number of explanations and that hopefully Sirus would have some answers when he wrote back to Harry.  
  
"Well then I guess we should be off to bed. Good night Harry."  
  
"Night Hermione, I'll see you at breakfast."  
  
Harry headed for the boys dorms and went straight to his bed and fell asleep. Harry was thankful that he didn't have any dreams tonight, this was the first night in a long time that Harry had been able to sleep peacefully.  
  
Harry awoke the next morning and went down to the common room. Julia was sitting reading a book for arthimacy. [I] Should I go ask her about her family? Maybe I could find out if her last name has any connection to my mothers. On the other hand I don't want her to know about my dreams. Maybe I should just trust Hermione's word that Evans is an extremely common last name and many people have it, just like Smith or Jones is in the Muggle world. I mean I guess she is at least somewhat right about that, that other Ravenclaw boy (was his name Jordan?) doesn't have any relation to Julia and yet they have the same last name.....[/I]  
  
Harry's thoughts trailed off as he entered the great hall for breakfast. He was Hermione sitting with Ron and decided to join them. After helping himself to a piece of toast and some eggs Harry looked up to see the hundreds of owls flocking into the great hall to deliver the daily mail. A copy of [I] The Daily Prophet [/I] was dropped in front of Hermione and Ron received a post card from his older brother Percy who was currently working for the Ministry in Germany. Harry saw Hedwig fly in, she dropped a letter in front of Harry, waited for Harry to give her a treat and a stroke on the head and then she flew out of sight. Harry opened his letter, it was from Sirus:  
  
[I] Dear Harry,  
  
I'm sorry I didn't write back to you prompty but I had some other business of a very important matter to attend to. The girl you mentioned, Julia Evans, is someone that we need to speak about together in person. How about on September 14. In the meant time please try to stay out of trouble.  
  
Love, Sirus.  
  
Chapter Fifteen: Defense Against the Dark Arts  
  
Harry showed Sirus's letter to Ron and Hermione, September 14 was just a week away so Harry wouldn't have to wait too long to find out what was going on. Just then Professor McGonagal came in handing out the new schedules.  
  
"YES!!!" Ron shouted suddenly.  
  
"What?" Harry and Hermione said in unison.  
  
"Look, we have potions with Huffelpuff this year!!!!!!!!!"  
  
"Wow, that's a relief, although look, Harry said grimly, we have transfiguration with the Syltherines."  
  
"Yeah but that's ok cause at least we won't have Snape favoring Malfoy and his gang, McGonagal is at least very fair." Hermione pointed out at once.  
  
"True" said Harry, his voice trailing off as he saw Julia walk in.  
  
"Hello, so I see that we have Defense Against the Dark Arts first, would you mind if I went with you so I can see where the classroom is?"  
  
Hermione looked over uneasly at Harry, Harry nodded a bit, "Of course, have you heard anything about the new teacher?"  
  
"No, but it seems to be a big mystery, I guess we will find out soon though, class starts in twenty mintues."  
  
And since Julia pointed this out Harry and Ron made an effort to finish breakfast quickly. Hermione was chatting with Julia about various "girl things" as Ron and Harry followed them out of the Great Hall and down to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. When they entered the room it was empty so the four of them took seats near the back. Ron and Harry talked a bit about Quidditch while Hermione and Julia made plans to meet in the Gyrfindor Common room after the lunch break to head to arthimacy together. Students began filing into the classroom, Harry was relieved that they shared this class with Ravenclaw. In fact it was surprising to Harry that they only had one class with Slytherine this year. The chatting among the students however came to a dead hault when the new teacher entered the room. Harry felt all of the color drain from his face as he looked up and saw Lucious Malfoy standing at the head of the classroom........  
  
Harry's mouth dropped to the floor as he looked over at Ron and Hermione, who were also shocked. A few gasps went up around the classroom, Julia however was very confused for she had no idea who the Malfoy's were.  
  
"Hello class, I trust that most of you know me. For those of you that don't My name is Professor Malfoy, and I trust that you won't soon forget it." Lucious sent a bone chilling glare across the room towards the Gryfindors.  
  
"I expect that you will work hard this year and I will NOT tolerate anyone who messes around or takes my class as a joke." Malfoy then looked directly at Harry and his friends.  
  
Professor Malfoy then began to call roll.  
  
"Adams, Alan." "Present Sir." "Colins, Samatha" "Present" When Lucious looked at the next name his eyes narrowed and his already pale face went paler:  
  
"Evans, Julia" "Present" As Julia acknowledged her name, Malfoy looked up and studied her closely. He suddenly seemed very disturbed. He called the rest of the class role out very hastly, still preoccupied with Julia.  
  
The remainder of the class was spent with everyone in utter terror of Professor Malfoy. When their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class finally ended everyone exited the room quickly and silently before letting out cries of disbelief.  
  
"What in the heck was Dumbledore thinking?" Hermione cried.  
  
"That dumb git is gonna pay!" Ron said while clenching his fists.  
  
"This is a little to weird, I mean even Snape would have been better then Malfoy." Harry puzzled. "I think I better write to Sirus, he's going to want to know about all of this!" And with that Harry headed back to the Gryfindor common room, meanwhile Julia looked at Ron and Hermione, obviously very confused about what just happened.  
  
"So what's so bad about this guy?"  
  
"He's Draco's father, you know the Slytherine 5th year I was telling you about the other day," Hermione replied. "He was also a big supporter of 'You know who' but he supposedly turned back to the good side, but I'm convinced as is everyone else that the Malfoy's still practice and are faithful to the Dark Arts."  
  
"Oh, that's not good."  
  
"No, and when my Father finds out about this, all blimy hell is gonna break lose!" Ron said furiously.  
  
"Ron, calm down, lets see what Sirus tells Harry before we go running off making a big fuss of things." Hermione was trying to calm Ron down but deep inside she was just as furious and even a bit scared.  
  
"Well, since there's not much we can do now, why don't we head to lunch?" Julia suggested. Ron agreed and began to head with Julia to the great hall. Meanwhile Hermione decided to head up and see if she could help Harry write his letter.  
  
Hermione found Harry in their usual corner of the common room with a roll of parchment stretched out in front of him.  
  
"Harry, do you need any help?"  
  
"Oh, no thanks Herm, I think I'm just about done."  
  
He handed the letter to Hermione.  
  
[I] Dear Sirus,  
  
Lucious Malfoy is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher, please tell me if you know why. If you don't then is there any way you could contact Dumbledore about this, everyone (except the slytherines) are downright scared. Please respond quickly.  
  
Love, Harry [/I]  
  
"Should you mention to Sirus how Malfoy reacted when he called Julia's name, I mean something about Julia seemed to creep Malfoy out, and that is also very unoridinary."  
  
"Yeah, I guess I should ask him about that, he did seem to rush the rest of class after that didn't he?"  
  
Hermione nodded her head.  
  
Ok, well then I will add that to the letter. Harry picked up his quill, and took the letter back from Hermione. He added the following:  
  
[I] P.S. Malfoy got very nervous when he called Julia's name, he seemed scared. I don't know what to make of his reaction, so I'm telling you, hopefully you will be able to find out. [/I]  
  
Hermione then offered to walk with Harry up to the owlery to send a school owl to Sirus. Harry would have preferred to use Hedwig, but since Sirus is in hiding, Harry can't use the same owl all of the time or Sirus might be found. After picking a large dark brown owl Harry attached the letter to the owl's foot and then he fed it a treat. The owl was off to deliver his message. Meanwhile Hedwig had woken up from her nap and was looking rather angrly at Harry, Harry gave her a treat and was soon again her friend. Harry and Hermione then made their way back to the great hall to meet up with Ron and Julia.  
  
Chapter Sixteen: New Faces  
  
Lunch time was spent chatting about many various topics. Hermione and Julia were busy talking about other classes, Ron and Harry had met up with Seamus and Neville, other Gryfindor fifth years and were busy discussing their class schedules.  
  
"Ugh, we have Divination next, I wonder how I will die this year?" Harry asked sarcastically.  
  
The group chuckled recalling how their Divination professor, always predicted her students dying, she especially enjoyed describing very dramatic deaths for the famous Harry Potter.  
  
As lunch time went on, Harry noticed a group of students enter the great hall and make their way towards the Gryfindor table.  
  
"Hey Harry, are those some of the new transfer students?" Ron asked while nudging Harry.  
  
"Probably, they look older then first years but they are defiantly new."  
  
"Looks like most of them are Gryfindor."  
  
"Yeah, everyone except that one boy, he's got a Ravenclaw patch."  
  
The group strolled over towards Harry and his friends.  
  
"Hi, I'm Nick Ashton, I transferred from the International School of Magic in Swizerland, I was wondering if my friends and I could join you?"  
  
"Sure" replied Harry, motioning towards the empty seats.  
  
"I don't think you've met everyone, this is Ron Weasley, Gryfindor Fifth Year, his brothers Fred and George are also in Gryfindor in their seventh year. That down there is Neville Longbottom, sitting next to him is Seamus Finnigan. This is Hermione Granger, and sitting next to her is Julia Evans, and I'm Harry."  
  
"Yes, I know, you're Harry Potter."  
  
Harry blushed, sometimes he hated being famous.  
  
"Sorry to embarrass you, but its kinda hard not to know who you are. Anyways its nice to meet all of you." Nick then went on to introduce the kids that accompanied him to the table.  
  
"This is Robin Mitchell, she's from the U.S. Sydney Bradshaw is next to her, she's from New Zealand. Mark Harris is sitting next to Sydney and beyond him is Kimberly Nighte. Mark, Kimberly and myself all transferred from the same school in Swizerland.  
  
Harry and his friends nodded as the new students were introduced. Julia quickly began talking to Robin, the other girl from the U.S. Hermione was fascinated by the stories Sydeney was telling her about New Zealand. Meanwhile Mark and Nick were inquiring about the upcoming Quidditch tryouts.  
  
"We didn't have Quidditch last year because of the Tri-Wizard tournament, so our last season was during my third year. We have one spot open, the keeper, Oliver Wood, your transfer student counselor in fact, graduated at the end of my third year and his spot is still vacant." Harry then went on to explain to the boys how tryouts would be held in two weeks, and how the captain would be elected the following week.  
  
Hermione suddenly noticed the time and informed the group that their afternoon classes would be starting in ten minutes. Hermione and Julia headed off for Arthimacy together. Harry, Ron, Seamus, and Neville headed to the attic for Divination. Nick and Mark joined Julia and Hermione in arthimacy while Sydney and Robin headed for Muggle Studies. Little did anyone know that they were in for an eventful afternoon.....  
  
Chapter Seventeen: Something New  
  
Ron and Harry arrived at the top of one of the Hogwarts towers, both were panting, trying to catch their breath they began to climb the attic ladder up to the Divination classroom. As they entered they were hit with the powerfull aroma of perfumes and incense, an eery purple glow was cast over the room. Ron and Harry took their usual seats at the very back of the classroom, the table closet to the exit. Pretty soon Lavender and Pansy walked in, both sat at their usual spots in the front. Unlike Ron and Harry, Lavender and Pansy were said to posses the "Eye" for Divination, both did very well in this particular class.  
  
Suddenly a strange thing happened. Professor McGonagal entered the classroom.  
  
"Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter, will you please join me in the hall?"  
  
Harry and Ron looked at each other, puzzled, then silenty followed the Professor back down the attic ladder and into the narrow hallway.  
  
"Professor Trelawny has informed me that the two of you have not made any progress in your past two years in her class. Therefore she has asked that you two be removed and spend your time in a subject that you can hopefully excel in."  
  
Harry and Ron just looked at each other and then back at McGonagal. They didn't know if they were supposed to be ashamed with their failure, or be thrilled that they didn't have to take Divnation anymore.  
  
"So the two of you will be joining a new class here at Hogwarts, I am selecting all of the students and only a select few are being offered this chance, so I hope you two will not let Gryfindor, myself or Hogwarts for that matter down."  
  
Harry and Ron continued to stand there with puzzled looks on their faces.  
  
"Now if you two will please follow me."  
  
They obliged and followed McGonagal silenty down the hallway, across the second floor of the castle, up another case of stairs, around a few corners and finally into an empty classroom. Harry suddenly had the strange sense of Déjà vu. He had been here before, a long time ago. And then it hit him, this is where the enchanted mirror had been stored in his first year. The mirror showed the person looking into it whatever they wanted to see, Harry had been able to use the mirror to defeat Lord Voldemort for the second time in his young life. The room had been transformed however, the desks were now lined up in neat rows, the room was light and airy and the cobwebs had been removed. Posters of great wizards hug around the room and a single large desk sat at the front right hand corner. Harry knew this was the teacher's desk, but he didn't know who the teacher was.  
  
"Er, Professor, could I ask you what exactly this class is and who's teaching it?" Harry said cautiously.  
  
"I'm afraid not Mr. Potter, I can not tell you any more. I wish you two good luck." And with that she turned and left the room.  
  
Harry and Ron shrugged at each other and then decided to take desks towards the middle of the classroom. No sooner had they taken their seats then had Hermione and Julia walked in the room.  
  
"Harry" Hermione hissed "Do you know what this is about?"  
  
"Nope, Professor McGonagal wouldn't tell me anything."  
  
"Did they switch you to a different Divnation class or something?"  
  
"No, they took us out completely, said we would do better in this class rather then making up death preditions for another year." Harry said this in a joking tone.  
  
"Harry I really don't think you should be joking, this seems pretty serious."  
  
"Aren't you taking Arthimacy this hour?"  
  
"Yes, we are going to go to Arthimacy with Ravenclaw instead so that we can attend this class."  
  
"So then what class did you have to get rid of?"  
  
"Astronomy, but that's ok because it was my least favorite subject, after Divnation of course."  
  
Harry smiled a bit remembering how Hermione had stormed out of Divnation in their third year, she never returned to that class again.  
  
Only three more students came into the classroom, One of them was Nick, the new transfer student they had met at lunch. Another was a girl from Ravenclaw who looked as if she was a fourth year and finally a Hufflepuff boy who Harry knew was a sixth year.  
  
No one knew why they were there or what class they had just been assigned to. Everyone was very curious but a little nervous at the same time. After all, what if they didn't pass this class, after being hand picked to attend. The pressure was certainly starting to rise. Just as Harry was beginning to go over his list of homework in his head the teacher of this strange class entered the room. Harry almost fainted when he saw it was none other then Professor Dumbledoor himself...........  
  
Chapter Eighteen: The WIA  
  
Professor Dumbledore strolled gracefully to the front of the classroom. He looked at his seven pupils with the same glimmer in his eyes that had been there five years ago when Harry first met him. Dumbledore looked over at Harry, Ron and Hermione who were very confused, smiled a mysterious smile and then began to address the class.  
  
"Hello all, and welcome. Most of you are probably very curious to find out why you have been brought here. Before I begin explaining this class I must first go over some issues of the most serious importance. Lord Voldemort's power is rising once again, putting the entire wizard and muggle world alike in grave danger."  
  
Harry was surprised that no one seemed to flinch at the mention of Volemort's name.  
  
"In order to help fight this threat of evil I have been working very closely with the ministry these past few months, the ministry has decided to reinstate the WIA program to help ensure the safety of the members of the magical community. WIA stands for the Wizards Intelligence Alliance, it was formed almost 20 years ago to help defend the world against Voldemort and his rising power. The WIA was de activated 15 years ago when the threat of Voldemort had been elimanted and the Alliance was therefore no longer needed."  
  
Harry began to sink down in his chair.. He was the one who defeated Voldemort, he was only a baby, and he would be famous for the rest of his life because of that one fateful night.  
  
"The seven of you have been selected by the ministry and myself to train to become the new members and ultimately the new leaders of the WIA, this is a class that will train you in everything you need to know to help protect the world from the evils of dark magic. Each one of you has a special ability that is vital to the success of the group. The group will not be able to function properly if you don't stick together, support each other and contribute fully to your part of the alliance. The fate of the entire alliance and therefore the world is now in your hands."  
  
Harry looked around the room to see that everyone was looking at each other, most of the color was drained from everyone's face.  
  
"I know this is a lot of information to take in at first, but in time you will realize how important and noble this duty is. We will begin our basic training tomorrow, until then your task is to get to know each other as well as possible and try to figure out what special talent each of you offers to the group. I will be expecting a full report of your accomplishments tomorrow when we meet. Until then, may all of you have a pleasant afternoon." Dumbledor began to walk to the door with the same look of laughter dancing across his eyes.  
  
"...And oh yes, one more thing I almost forgot. Do keep this information to yourselves, no one else must find out about this group or its purpose. Anyone who can't observe these rules shall certainly die a most horrible death." Dumbledor then turned and walked out of the classroom.  
  
The seven chosen students sat in the classroom looking at each other, completely stunned.  
  
Chapter Nineteen: Putting the Pieces Together.  
  
Hermione was the first to speak. "Why don't we go around the room and introduce ourselves and tell what our best areas of magic seem to be. I'll go first, My name is Hermione Granger, I'm a fifth year in Gryfindor and my best area of magic is transfiguration and arthimacy."  
  
The faces around the room seemed to be loosening up as the introductions continued.  
  
"I'm Ron Weasley, I'm a fifth year in Gryfindor and my best area of magic is err well, I don't really know, but I do like to play chess and quidditch."  
  
Harry flinched at the mention of Quidditch. Ron had wanted to be on the house team so badly and was always jealous of Harry. Maybe Ron would make the team this year since there was an open spot.  
  
"I'm Julia Evans, I transferred from the United States and I'm a fifth year in Gryfindor. My best area of magic is charms."  
  
The Ravenclaw girl spoke next. "My name is Claudia Baldwin, I'm a fourth year in Ravenclaw and my best area of magic I guess is divination."  
  
Hermione rolled her eyes at the mention of the subject she thought was absoulty ludicrous.  
  
"My name is Nick Ashton, I transferred from Swizerland, I'm a seventh year in Hufflepuff and my best area of magic is Potions."  
  
"My name is Dylan Richards, I'm a sixth year in Hufflepuff, and I guess my best area of magic is history." Dylan was embarrassed to admit that he loved the history subjects.  
  
This left Harry to introduce himself, he was debating on if he should introduce himself as "Harry" or "Harry Potter."  
  
"My name is Harry, I'm a fifth year in Gryfindor and I guess my best area is defense against the dark arts, but I really just like playing Quidditch." Harry decided to go with his first choice, he knew most of the people in the room and decided his last name was already known and didn't need to be mentioned.  
  
"Alright so we have Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, History, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Divination, Arthimacy, and then there's Ron, we need to figure him out." Hermione was checking the list of on her fingers as she was thinking out loud.  
  
"Ron, you said you liked to play chess right?" Julia asked.  
  
"Yeah"  
  
"So maybe you are supposed to be here for logic, chess takes lots of problem solving and logic, that might be your trait that you are supposed to contribute."  
  
Hermione thought this proposition over, it made since to her as well. Hermione knew why Harry was there, he had defeated Voldemort numerous times, but she still didn't know what his special trait was supposed to be, somehow she knew it was supposed to be more then Defense Against the Dark Arts.  
  
"Ok, well maybe this is where we should start with Dumbledor tomorrow" Hermione suggested.  
  
"And if we are wrong then what?" Ron asked  
  
"Then I guess we'll have to keep working on figuring it out or else Dumbledor might just tell us."  
  
Ron doubted the later of Hermione's answers, he knew Dumbledor would never tell them.  
  
Harry was also thinking the same thing to himself. He decided that he would go to Dumbledor's office and ask him why he was chosen for the group.  
  
The other six students, still very confused, decided to call it a day and they headed back for their dormitories. Ron and Julia walked Nick out of the classroom and down the hallway towards the main stairs. Hermione hung back to talk to Harry, who was obviously up to something.  
  
"Harry, everything ok?"  
  
"Yeah, just trying to figure out why I was chosen for this."  
  
"Harry, Dumbledor had his reasons, and besides you have the most experience of anyone with Voledmort himself."  
  
"Yeah I know but I don't really have any special talents, I mean you have transfiguration and your genius at everything else under the sun, Ron has his logic, but what do I have besides a dumb scar?"  
  
"Harry, you've just got to go with it ok? Everyone is here for a reason."  
  
"Yeah I guess. I'm going to go see if I can talk to Dumbledor, maybe he can answer some of my questions."  
  
"Alright." Hermione began to leave. "Oh and Harry, you might want to ask Sirus when you see him next week." Harry nodded as Hermione headed back to the Gryfindor Tower, Harry headed up to Dumbledor's office, it was time for some answers.  
  
Chapter Twenty: Lemondrops, Chocolate Frogs, and Every Flavor Beans.  
  
Harry arrived at the entrance to Dumbledor's office, he looked around for a minute to make sure no one was around. He then looked dumbly at the gargoyle statue which opened the entrance to the Headmaster's office. Harry had known the password in years before, Dumbledor usually picked a word that was a type of candy. Harry began trying everything he could think of.  
  
"Lemondrops" No response  
  
"Chocolate Frogs." Nothing  
  
"Bertie Bots." Still nothing.  
  
"Every Flavor Beans" Nope.  
  
Harry continued running through a list of every candy he could think of. Nothing worked. Finally Harry decided to try something, he thought it might be a long shot, but it was still worth a try.  
  
"Butterbeer." Suddenly the gargoyle statue moved to open the entrance to Dumbledor's office. Harry climed up the familiar staircase to the door at the top of the stairs. Before Harry could even knock on the door he heard Dumbledor inside say "Come on in Harry."  
  
Harry slowly opened the door to see Dumbledor sitting behind his desk. Harry spotted the old sorting hat sitting on top of a shelf in the corner of the office. Harry also saw Dumbledor's bird, Fawkes sitting on the top of Dumbledor's chair. Dumbledor himself looked as though he was working, Harry hated bothering him but he was sure Dumbledor wouldn't have let him in if it wasn't a convienent time. Harry sat in one of the chairs in front of Dumbledor's desk and waited for the professor to speak first.  
  
"Impressive Harry, I thought for sure that I had picked a password that no one would guess this year. I expect that you are here to ask me why you were chosen to be a part of the WIA" Dumbledors bright blue eyes were twinkling with laughter.  
  
Harry nodded his head cautiously, [I]How does he do that[/I] he wondered to himself, [I]Dumbledor always knows when I'm coming and what I'm coming for [/I]  
  
"You have so much of your father in you Harry. Your father came to this very office twenty years ago to ask the same question."  
  
"My father was a part of the WIA?"  
  
"Yes, he was in his seventh year here at Hogwarts when the alliance was formed. James of course was just as confused as you are now, but he ended up becoming the great leader of the alliance, the alliance was de-activated in part out of respect for the loss of James. The other witches and wizards didn't think it would be right to continue without James. The ministry has re-activated the alliance only because you Harry are no capable of leading it."  
  
"What..... you mean I'm the reason this whole thing is starting?"  
  
"Partly, the alliance is needed because of the threat that Voledemort is posing to the world but you are the main reason why the alliance is able to work again Harry."  
  
"How though, I don't even understand, I don't really have any unique gifts to contribute to the group, much less lead the alliance!"  
  
"Ah, but you do young Harry. You have so much of your father in you, but you have talent that surpasses what even James could have expected to achieve. He would be proud of you."  
  
Tears began to well up in Harry's eyes, he missed his parents and wished desperately that he could have at least just met them, even just for a moment.  
  
"Harry, has Sirus told you yet of your father's special talent?"  
  
"Other then his Quidditch skills, no."  
  
"Ah, well I better tell you then, Sirus can fill in the rest of the holes for you when he visits next week."  
  
"Wait how did you know that....."  
  
"Harry, I know everything going on inside these walls, Do you really think anything goes unnoticed by me?"  
  
"No I guess not."  
  
"I even know that a certain person wants to be more then just a friend to you Harry."  
  
"What? Who?" Harry was now totally confused.  
  
"All in good time Harry, you will find everything out when the time is right."  
  
"Alright, can you tell me about my father then?"  
  
"Well then I guess I better start at the beginning. As you already know your father and his friends Sirus and Peter became illegal Animagi to keep Remus company during his transformations. Your father though had a talent that no one else at Hogwarts had at the time, and a talent that no one has had since he left. At least that was until you came Harry."  
  
Harry just sat there listening to Dumbledor, mesmerized.  
  
"Your father was able to control things with his mind. He could call his wand to him from inside the castle, he could make his bed from the dining hall, he could call the snitch to him on the Quidditch field."  
  
"You mean he didn't have to use his wand?"  
  
"Oh, he still used his wand and the spells he learned, but he didn't have to be holding his wand to be able to cast spells and charms. He could direct his wand to perform a charm from miles away."  
  
"Ok, so how do I fit into all of this?"  
  
"Harry, you have the same talent, you can also control things with your mind."  
  
"I've never done anything like that before though."  
  
"Oh but you have Harry, all of those times on the Quidditch field when Mr. Malfoy was inches away from catching the snitch and then the snitch suddenly turned its course and came within your reach, that time when you blew your aunt up, you were using your mind Harry, with some practice and training you will learn how to use your mind to control anything and everything you need. This is why you are the most vital part to the alliance."  
  
"Oh I see now, because if I can control things with my mind then I could direct the members of the alliance on what to do even if I'm not there!"  
  
"Exactly Harry, and besides your mind abilities you are the only one in the group who has ever come face to face with Voldemort and lived to tell the story. You were clearly the most obvious choice when I met with the Ministry last month to select the Alliance members."  
  
This information was so much for Harry to absorb that he just sat there for a minute trying to put everything together.  
  
"Ok so if I'm the leader of the group, the one who will help guide and direct them, then where does everyone else fall into place?"  
  
"Well, Mr. Weasley was selected for his incredible logic skills, I haven't seen a chess player like him in a great number of years. Ms. Granger was selected for her great wizarding ablities, but mostly for her transfiguration talents which could be greatly needed in the search to destroy Voldemort. Ms. Baldwin is one of the best Divination students Hogwarts has had in many years, she will be vital to providing information to the rest of the alliance as to where Voldemort might be hiding and where he might strike. Mr. Ashton was selected for his superior potions abilty, he however his also very talented in the Dark Arts area and will be one of your greatest helps Harry. Finally Mr. Richards is extremely gifted with history and will be a valuable source in finding information from the history of wizarding that could help the alliance defeat Volemort."  
  
Harry was now finally starting to make sense of everything.  
  
"Professor, what about Julia?"  
  
At the mention of Julia Dumbledor sighed and looked at Harry honestly.  
  
"Harry, I really do think Sirus should be the one to tell you about Julia, you will find out soon enough."  
  
Harry was puzzled, what could be so special about Julia that Dumbledor couldn't tell him?  
  
"Professor, was my mother apart of the alliance?"  
  
"Yes of course, both her and her sister Rose were a part of the first WIA."  
  
"Her sister? My mother had another sister?"  
  
"You'll have to ask Sirus about that as well, now you really should be off Harry or you will miss dinner."  
  
Harry didn't want to leave, he wanted more answers but he didn't dare argue with Dumbledor. He stood up and walked silently to the door, his head was spinning with a million questions.  
  
Chapter Twenty One: Preparations  
  
Harry found Ron and Hermione talking to Julia in the Gryfindor common room when he returned. He whispered to Ron that he needed to talk to Hermione and him, Harry still didn't feel comfortable talking about things like this in front of Julia. Ron made up some excuse to leave and Hermione got the hint and followed. They went to the library and found a vacant corner towards the back. Harry told them everything.  
  
"Wow, you mum had another sister?" Ron was shocked.  
  
"Why didn't Dumbledore tell you what Julia contributes to the group?" Hermione was looking concerned.  
  
"Listen guys, all I know is what I told you, I guess I'll just have to wait until next week when I see Sirus, he's meeting me at our usual spot in the common room at 1am. If you two want to come then you can, maybe then we can straighten this whole thing out."  
  
Ron and Hermione were obviously as dumbfounded as Harry was, they decided to head down to the great hall for dinner.  
  
The next week passed by uneventfully, well the exception was of course potions with Professor Snape. Snape was bitter that Gryfindor no longer had his class with his precious Slytherines, but he still found a way to make things horrible for the Gryfindors. Neville messed up a memory potion and had to be sent to the hospital wing, only after of course losing twenty points and enduring the criticism of Snape. Defense Against the Dark Arts had been very dull and boring, Lucious Malfoy didn't seem to know anything on the subject, and he was there only to make life miserable for anyone who wasn't a slytherine. Malfoy of course was extra hard on Harry and his friends, Harry knew this was done partly because of his son and partly because Harry's father had hated him so much when they were at Hogwarts together.  
  
Finally the week ended and the students could walk around the courtyards of Hogwarts, enjoying what was left of the daylight before the winter set in. Harry was busy preparing for his meeting with Sirus. Something else had been bugging him for a while as well. Harry rembered how Dumbledor had said he knew of everything that went on in the school, and he also told Harry that he knew someone wanted to be more then just a friend to Harry. [I] Who could it be? Maybe it's Julia, she's always so reserved whenever I'm there, maybe.....[/I] Then another thought entered Harry's head. [I] Could it be Hermione? I mean she did.... Oh stop it Potter, your crazy, she's your best friend, anything more would ruin that.[/I] Harry forced himself to stop pondering the subject, he had many other things to worry about besides something petty like that. Just then Harry recalled the dreams he had been having earlier in the summer. It had been almost two weeks since he had that last dream, but he still remembered them so vividly. [I] Who was that women, and the baby, the baby that they called Jewels, and Julia's nickname is Jewels, was it Julia in my dream? If it was Julia then who was the lady? She looked so much like my mother.....although I probably made her look like my mother out of desperation for seeing her. But she referred to the man as James, and wait a minute I almost forgot, he called her Lily! No.....I defiantly dreamt about my parents, but how does the baby and Julia fit into all of this?[/I]  
  
Harry's thoughts were interrupted by Ron coming into tell him that Hermione and Julia were on their way to dinner, Harry followed Ron down to enjoy a large dinner of roast beef and mashed potatoes, he then hurried back up to the common room to make sure he had all of his questions for Sirus in order. Hermione helped him.  
  
"Ok here it goes, I need to ask him about my dreams, the ones with my parents and the baby. I need to ask him about my mother's other sister, and about Julia. I need to ask him about the WIA and what he knows about it. Is there anything else I'm leaving out?"  
  
"How about that funny feeling your scar gave you when we first met Julia?"  
  
"Oh yeah, I forgot that one."  
  
"And we need to ask him about Lucious Malfoy teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts."  
  
"Oops, almost forgot that one too."  
  
"Other then that I think that's everything."  
  
"Thanks Hermione, I would have forgotten tons of important questions without your help."  
  
"No problem Harry."  
  
Harry was debating if he should tell Hermione about the "other" thing Dumbledor had told Harry. He decided that it couldn't hurt, and it would kill time until Sirus arrived.  
  
"Um, Herm, Dumbledor told me something else that kinda bothered me."  
  
"Really? What?"  
  
"Well he told me that he knows everything that goes on within the school, and he said that he knew for instance that one of my friends wants to be more then that with me."  
  
"Oh"  
  
"Yeah, I was completely confused, he wouldn't tell me who or why."  
  
Hermione just sat there silenty, she didn't know what to say.  
  
"Well Harry, knowing Dumbledor I'm sure you'll find out soon enough."  
  
"Yeah, I guess, thanks for listening, I just needed to get that off of my chest."  
  
"Sure anytime."  
  
Hermione headed up to her room to take a nap before Sirus arrived, Harry decided to join Ron on the other side of the common room for a game of wizards chess.  
  
As Hermione headed up to her room, she was now confused by what Harry had just told her. Was Dumbledor seeing her or someone else? Could it be Julia? Suddenly with that thought Hermione felt a huge surge of jealousy, but she didn't know why, after all Harry was one of her best friends, nothing more, nothing less. Then she remembered the train station at the end of last year, she hugged Ron goodbye for the summer, but she gave Harry a kiss on the cheek, it was just an innocent kiss though, it didn't mean anything...or did it?  
  
Chapter Twenty Two: Sirus  
  
The evening seemed to pass by very slowly as Harry waited for 1 am to roll around. Finally at around midnight the last students left the common room, leaving Harry alone. Harry crept up to his room, grabbed his invisibility cloak and then silently disappeared back down to the common room. Ron was already waiting for him, and he could see Hermione's outline coming down the stairs from the girls dormitories. The three of them sat in front of the Gryfindor fireplace, Harry placed his invisibility cloak around them and they sat silently waiting. It seemed like an eternity, Harry was beginning to wonder if something had happened to Sirus, if maybe he had been stopped and wasn't coming. Finally something across the room moved and a big black dog appeared. It had entered through the secret porthole in the wall just above the stairs to the boys dorms. The dog silently walked to the fireplace, Harry took the invisibility cloak off to show Sirus that they were all there. The dog silently transformed into a tall male figure, Sirus sat down with Harry and his friends, Harry put the invisibility cloak around the group which now contained four. Hermione performed the [I] Muteus [/I] charm to create an invisible barrier around them so they would not be heard by anyone on the outside.  
  
"Hello Harry, Ron and Hermione. I'm so glad to see that all of you are well."  
  
"And you are looking well too Sirus." Harry replied.  
  
Ron and Hermione had decided eairler to let Harry do all the talking tonight, they were just there as observers.  
  
"Sirus I have ton of questions to ask you, should I just start at the beginning?"  
  
"Well, why don't you just tell me all of your questions and then I will try to answer them for you."  
  
"Ok, well I guess it all starts back in July when we met Julia Evans in Madrid. I sent you that letter saying that my scar had felt funny when I met her, I don't know why it felt funny though."  
  
"Alright, keep going with your questions, they might all be connected with each other."  
  
"Well I think most of them are. Ok so continuing, I've been having these re-occuring dreams. The last one was almost two weeks ago, but before then I was having them more frequently, sometimes even two nights in a row. It always starts with a woman in these swirling shadows. As I kept having the dream I kept seeing more. In the last one the woman in the shadows is defiantly holding a baby, and then there's a man he tells the woman that they have to go quickly. The thing is I think they are my parents, the man called the woman Lily and she called the man James. James told Lily in the last dream that she must go before Voldemort kills her, and then he points to the baby Lily is holding. He bids goodbye to the baby, refers to her as 'Jewels' and then everything disappears back into the swirling shadows."  
  
"Ok, keep going Harry."  
  
"Then when we got on the train for school this year, Julia was talking to Hermione and mentioned that her nickname back home was Jewels! Then Hermione and I realized that her last name Evans was my mother's maiden name. Hermione also found this story of two twins in the 16th century, one of the twins had a scar on his shoulder that felt warm and tingly whenever his brother was near and felt different when his brother was in danger. We then wondered if this is the kind of thing I felt in Madrid when we approached Julia for the first time."  
  
"Ah, and this is where what I told you in my letter about having to talk about this in person comes in. Before I do that though why don't you continue with your questions."  
  
"Ok then I guess the next thing is about the WIA, Dumbledor selected the three of us plus Julia and three other students to form the new alliance. I went to see Dumbledor and he already told me all about my father and his mind talents and how I have the same ability, but then he told me something very strange. He said that my mother and her sister Rose were also a part of the alliance. Did my mother have another sister besides my Aunt Petiuna? What happened to her?"  
  
Sirus sighed "that's another long story Harry, any more questions?"  
  
"Well yeah just one, do you know why Lucious Malfoy is teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts?"  
  
"Now that one I can answer the easiest but I will wait unitl it falls in the right line of the story I am about to tell you. You three might want to get comfortable, this is going to take a while."  
  
Chapter Twenty Three: The whole story  
  
"Ok well I guess I better start at the beginning Harry. First off, your mother's sister. Your Aunt Petunia was the oldest in the family. Her parents and herself were muggles. Then Lily was born, she was a witch. As you already know Petunia was very jealous of her younger sister and her abilities. What you don't know is that Petunia and Lily have another sister named Rose. Rose was born two years after Lily. Rose was also a witch, Petunia grew extremely bitter that both of her sisters had magical powers and she didn't. When she met your uncle she moved away never to speak to anyone in her family again. She tried to run away from the magical world, but then you were left on her doorstep and well you know the rest of that story Harry."  
  
"So what happened to Rose, is she still alive?"  
  
"Rose moved to the United States after graduating Hogwarts, she went to a muggle college, I think it was called Harvard, she never got married though. She is still alive and well, living in the states."  
  
"But I thought the Dursley's were my only living realtives...."  
  
"Well Harry, this is where Julia comes into the picture. That dream you had about your mom and dad with the baby, you were right the baby is Julia, and it is your mom and dad. You see Harry, your mom didn't just have one child, she had two, you and Julia are twins."  
  
"What......."  
  
Hermione almost fainted "So I was right" she muttered, Ron's jaw was on the floor.  
  
"The special thing about twins Harry is that they have a special bond, and together they have a special power that is not easily defeated. Voldemort knew that if both of you were trained to be wizards you would conquer him, so he decided to elimanate both of you before you could grow up and be trained. Dumbledor found out that Voldemort was planning to kill Julia first because she was believed to be weaker then you. Lily decided that if they sent Julia to live in the US with her younger sister and performed the [I] Fidilus [/I] charm that she would be safe. Then hopefully one day both of you would be trained and come together to rid the world of Voldemort."  
  
This was all too much for Harry to take in, he felt like he was going to pass out.  
  
"The plan was supposed to work perfectly. Julia was going to live with Rose in the US, you were going to stay with your parents in England and eventually both of you were going to attend Hogwarts, but when Peter betrayed your parents things changed. After your parents were killed, Dumbledor knew that he couldn't send you to live with Julia because he knew Voldemort was after both of you and it would be harder for him to find either one of you if you were very far apart. That left the Dursley's as the only other option. Julia was raised her entire life believing that her [I] muggle [/I] parents were killed in a plane crash, she has always called your Aunt Rose, her mother. Julia knew she was a wizard but didn't know her parents were, she also knows nothing about her connection or relationship to you. Since your Aunt Rose never married Julia has her last name, which is also your mother's maiden name: Evans"  
  
"So Julia's postion in the WIA is to reinforce me, together we are supposed to be unstoppable right?"  
  
"Basically, that is correct. You two have a special connection, you are able to communicate with each other from a distance you just haven't learned how yet. And Harry with your mind talents that you will soon discover, Voldemort should be defeated in no time."  
  
"So when are you going to tell Julia?"  
  
"Soon Harry, soon."  
  
"Ok, so my father was a member of the orginal WIA, My mother and my Aunt Rose were also members, were you a member Sirus?"  
  
"Yes, yes I was. So was Peter.." Sirus began to trail off at the mention of the friend that had betrayed the Potter's. "Peter was the main reason the WIA was dismantled, he was a traitor and we didn't know if who we could trust in the group anymore so we ended it. Besides there really was no need for such an alliance since we believed Lord Voldemort to be dead."  
  
"Ok this is all starting make sense. Sirus, do you know why Malfoy is teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts?"  
  
"He was appointed by the council of governors, he of course bribed every single one of them. Dumbledor hates the thought of him teaching, if all goes well he should be gone by Christmas."  
  
"So then why did he get all nervous when he called Julia for attendance?"  
  
"Because he knows Harry, he was after all a supporter of 'You know who' even though he claims to have come back to the right side he still contains all of the evil information that was programmed into him."  
  
"So is he still loyal to Voldemort?"  
  
"Of course Harry, only a dark curse could have made EVERY Governor in the ministry approve his teaching position here."  
  
"We have to do something."  
  
"In time Harry, no need to rush, Dumbledor has everything under control, after all he knows everything that goes on inside the school." Sirus gave Harry and small wink.  
  
"Ok Harry, it is very late and I must be going, you three need to get your rest as well."  
  
"Thanks for all of your help Sirus, goodbye."  
  
Sirus then turned into a large black dog and crept out of the Gryfindor common room the same way he had come in. Harry, Ron and Hermione silently went back to their dorms, ready for one long nights sleep. "So Julia's postion in the WIA is to reinforce me, together we are supposed to be unstoppable right?"  
  
"Basically, that is correct. You two have a special connection, you are able to communicate with each other from a distance you just haven't learned how yet. And Harry with your mind talents that you will soon discover, Voldemort should be defeated in no time."  
  
"So when are you going to tell Julia?"  
  
"Soon Harry, soon."  
  
"Ok, so my father was a member of the orginal WIA, My mother and my Aunt Rose were also members, were you a member Sirus?"  
  
"Yes, yes I was. So was Peter.." Sirus began to trail off at the mention of the friend that had betrayed the Potter's. "Peter was the main reason the WIA was dismantled, he was a traitor and we didn't know if who we could trust in the group anymore so we ended it. Besides there really was no need for such an alliance since we believed Lord Voldemort to be dead."  
  
"Ok this is all starting make sense. Sirus, do you know why Malfoy is teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts?"  
  
"He was appointed by the council of governors, he of course bribed every single one of them. Dumbledor hates the thought of him teaching, if all goes well he should be gone by Christmas."  
  
"So then why did he get all nervous when he called Julia for attendance?"  
  
"Because he knows Harry, he was after all a supporter of 'You know who' even though he claims to have come back to the right side he still contains all of the evil information that was programmed into him."  
  
"So is he still loyal to Voldemort?"  
  
"Of course Harry, only a dark curse could have made EVERY Governor in the ministry approve his teaching position here."  
  
"We have to do something."  
  
"In time Harry, no need to rush, Dumbledor has everything under control, after all he knows everything that goes on inside the school." Sirus gave Harry and small wink.  
  
"Ok Harry, it is very late and I must be going, you three need to get your rest as well."  
  
"Thanks for all of your help Sirus, goodbye."  
  
Sirus then turned into a large black dog and crept out of the Gryfindor common room the same way he had come in. Harry, Ron and Hermione silently went back to their dorms, ready for one long nights sleep.  
  
Chapter Twenty Three: Halloween  
  
A little more then a month had passed since Sirus came to visit Harry. Hogwarts was bustling with excitement as Halloween approached. Halloween was almost better then Christmas in the wizarding world. A week before Halloween the Gryfindors sat in Transfiguration listening to Professor McGonagal.  
  
"As you all know, Halloween is next Saturday. This year Hogwarts will have its very first annual Halloween Ball, fourth years and up are allowed to go but younger students may come if invited by an upper year student."  
  
The boys began to groan at the news of this, school dances weren't exactly the most popular thing for them.  
  
"Now I would hope to expect to see all of you there, you do not need a partner but you may choose to have one if you wish. Alright, class is dismissed."  
  
As the class exited the room the girls began talking excitdley about the dance, what they would wear, who they would go with, basically all of the 'girl' stuff that went into dances.  
  
Harry was thinking about the last school dance he had attended. The Yule Ball last winter, he didn't want to attend but since he was one of the school champions in the Tri-wizard tournament he was forced to go, and even worse he was forced to take a partner. This year though was different Harry decided, he didn't have to go, and therefore he wasn't going to go. Suddenly Harry remembered something, Hermione had gone with Victor Krum to the Yule Ball last year, they were kind of an item, but Harry hadn't heard Hermione speak of Krum since last year. Harry decided he might ask her about Krum later, but right now he was going to talk to Ron.  
  
"So Ron, are you going to go?"  
  
"I don't know, I don't have anyone to ask really so maybe I won't go."  
  
"Yeah I was thinking the same thing, afterall I didn't really enjoy the Yule Ball last year."  
  
"Tell me about it, and the dressing up, I mean C'mon, that's completely over rated."  
  
Harry and Ron chuckled and then decided to talk about Quidditch. Ron had made the house team, he had become the new keeper for Gryfindor replacing Oliver Wood. They discussed their upcoming match with Slytherine in November.  
  
Meanwhile Hermione was talking to Julia. "So who do you want to go to the dance with?"  
  
"I don't know, but I'm excited to go, it will be so much fun!"  
  
"Yeah the Yule Ball last year was pretty fun."  
  
"So are you going to ask someone?"  
  
"I don't know, are you?"  
  
"Um, I will if you will!"  
  
Hermione began to blush, the thought of asking a boy to a dance made her nervous.  
  
"Who did you have in mind to ask?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Well, Nick is pretty cute, and nice but I think he has a girlfriend back home, so I really didn't know. I was also thinking I could ask Ron to go, just as my friend to have fun."  
  
Hermione giggled "Ron hates dances, he might say no"  
  
"I think all boys hate dances, but how could he say no to a beautiful young lady!" Julia said sarcastically, flipping her hair behind her shoulders.  
  
"I've got an idea, why don't we just make Harry and Ron take us, that way we are just a group of friends going to the dance, nothing scary."  
  
"And Ron might be willing to go then, that sounds like a good idea. But you have to dance with Harry, cause otherwise I'd be going to a dance with my [I] brother [/I]"  
  
"True, but that should work out, how about we talk to them about it tonight after dinner."  
  
"Alright."  
  
Julia had found out everything about her family and being Harry's twin sister. She was as shocked as anyone else at first, but now she seemed to be having fun with it.  
  
Harry was also kinda happy to have a sister, he's never had any family before and he was thrilled to finally get to be someones brother. What was even better for Harry was that Julia's adoptive mother, Aunt Rose, had found out everything and had agreed to let Harry stay with her and Julia in the states over the summer. Harry would never have to go back to the Dursley's again, that was worth enough Christmas presents to last a lifetime.  
  
After dinner, the Gryfindor common room was busy with students doing homework, playing chess, and talking about the Halloween dance. Harry and Ron were busy doing their potions homework when Hermione and Julia decided to go talk to them about the dance.  
  
"Hey guys, we were just wondering if you guys were going to the Halloween Ball" Hermione said innocently.  
  
Harry looked up from his homework, "Um no, Ron and I decided we'd rather spend the night here having a 'guys' night."  
  
Julia and Hermione looked at each other, disappointed.  
  
"So you won't consider going at all?" Julia asked.  
  
Harry and Ron both shook their heads, trying to get back to their homework.  
  
"Even if we found you two incredibly beautiful girls to take." Hermione teasingly replied.  
  
At this Harry and Ron looked at each other, whispered a few things to each other, nodded and then looked back at the girls.  
  
"Well, we might be able to um, clear our schedules, if those two girls happened to be two of our best friends." Harry said with a mischevious grin.  
  
Hermione and Julia both blushed.  
  
"And of course, if it is ok with Harry that I take his sister to the dance." Ron replied.  
  
Harry by this time was giggling, trying to hold it in, but he was failing. The girls were blushing madly.  
  
"Of course it's ok Ron, that is if Hermione agrees to go with me so I don't have to go alone."  
  
Hermione and Julia looked at each other.  
  
"I'd love to go with you Ron." Julia replied.  
  
"And of course I'll go with you Harry" Hermione was nervously pushing her hair behind her ear.  
  
"Good, now that we have that settled, can we please go back to being our normal selves, and Herm, I desperately need help with this potions assignment."  
  
Hermione and Julia looked relieved, [I] that was too easy [/I] Hermione thought to herself. They sat down with Harry and Ron and spent the rest of the evening studying and chatting.  
  
Chapter Twenty Four: Halloween  
  
Halloween finally arrived and Hogwarts was bustling with excitement. The girls spent most of the day getting ready for the dance, while the boys spent the day trying to figure out how to get ready for the dance. Harry and Ron had decided to play wizards chess in the morning, Hermione and Julia were no where to be found.  
  
"Ha I win again." Declared Ron.  
  
Harry sighed "Yeah, again is the key word."  
  
"I'm sorry bout that Harry, would you like me to let you win next time?" Ron said sarcastically.  
  
"No but I'm getting kinda sick of playing this, aren't you?"  
  
"Yeah kinda."  
  
"I know!! We should go see Hagrid, we haven't been down to just see him since the end of last year."  
  
"Yeah, I guess we should go, he's probably blimey mad bout that."  
  
Harry and Ron took off through the Gryfindor portrait, the Fat Lady was mad that she had been woken up yet again. They headed across the Hogwarts grounds towards Hagrid's hut. They knocked on the door, when Hagrid opened it he was thrilled to see them.  
  
"Oh, they haven't forgotten me!" He sweezed the two boys so tight that they could barley breath.  
  
"Hi Hagrid, sorry we haven't been down in to see you, we've been super busy." Harry said apologetically.  
  
"Well I suppose you have been with the WIA and all."  
  
"Yeah," Ron said.  
  
They spent the afternoon talking to Hagrid about the WIA, Julia, the Halloween dance, Quidditch and everything else under the sun. Hagrid could have talked to them for hours more, but Harry realized soon realized that they only had an hour until the Halloween feast.  
  
"Ron we better get going, the last thing we want to do is make the girls wait for us."  
  
"Yeah, that would be something we'd never live down."  
  
They bid Hagrid goodbye and then made their way back up to the castle.  
  
They were ready for the feast with ten minutes left to spare when the girls arrived in the common room.  
  
"Where have you two been all day?" Julia asked  
  
"At Hagrid's" they replied in unison.  
  
"Oh, how is he?" Hermione exclaimed.  
  
"He's fine, you should go down there and see him when you get the chance though." Harry said.  
  
"Yeah, I've been so busy it's been hard to find the time."  
  
"So where were you guys all day?" Ron asked.  
  
"Getting ready for tonight, we had to do our nails, and get our potions for our hair ready and pick out our dresses....."  
  
"And shoes, and makeup and then we had to..."  
  
"Ok, that's fine," Ron jumped in, "I'm sure you guys had fun."  
  
"May I?" Harry asked, holding his arm out for Hermione like a perfect gentleman. Hermione giggled, and then took his arm.  
  
"Thanks."  
  
Ron did the same, and the four of them walked down to the great hall for the Halloween feast.  
  
They entered to an amazing sight, pumpkins and candles decorated the black starry sky above the dining hall. The tables were overflowing with food of everykind. Harry immediately noticed the candy apples and the bowls of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. They all sat down at the Gryfindor table. They talked and ate all of the delicious food, glad to be realaxing instead of worrying about their classes. When the feast ended they headed back up to the Gryfindor Tower to get ready for the dance.  
  
"Alright, now the dance starts in an hour ladies, hopefully it won't take you three to get ready" Ron said sarcastically.  
  
"Well, we'll be ready, but we are going to leave without you if you are not down here by 8:00." Julia teased.  
  
"Alright then, see you in an hour."  
  
Harry and Ron headed up to their room to get ready. They were supposed to wear either dress robes or muggle formal clothes. Harry had decided to go with the muggle clothes, he put on a pair of black pants, and a blue dress shirt with a black tie. Sirus had sent him the clothes as a late birthday present. Ron decided on dress robes. He borrowed Harry's since his were a little too short for him. Harry tried terribly to fix his unruly hair, but it still looked messy and unkempt. He decided that it was a battle he was never going to win. He followed Ron down to the common room to wait for the girls.  
  
The girls surprised the boys by already being there in the common room.  
  
"Wow," said Ron. Julia just blushed. She had put her long brown hair into a loose knot, left a piece draping her face and was wearing her deep burgundy dress robes which accented Ron's black ones perfectly.  
  
Harry meanwhile couldn't say anything, he was so taken away by Hermione. [I] Oh my gosh, she's gourgeous. [/I] Harry thought to himself. Hermione had used some kind of potion to make her normally frizzy hair into perfect spiral curls, she let them hang down around her shoulders. She was wearing a muggle dress, a strapless red one that went to the floor, with tiny diamonds accenting the neckline.  
  
"Harry, you can pick your jaw up off the floor now." Harry was brought back to earth by the sound of Hermione's voice.  
  
"Herm, you look great"  
  
"Thanks, so do you."  
  
Hermione and Julia were then escorted out of the common room by Harry and Ron who were trying to be perfect gentlemen. Ron was talking quietly to Julia, Harry though was still trying to get over how amazing Hermione looked.  
  
Chapter Twenty Four: The Dance  
  
Harry and Hermione entered the great hall to find that it had been transformed yet again. This time hundred of candles lined the back wall of the room, the tables had been removed, only the staff table remained. Above thousands of pixies were lighting up the black sky. Music was playing and many students were already there, most were just talking casually, the dancing hadn't really started yet.  
  
Ron led Julia over to talk to Fred and George who had brought the twin girls from Ravenclaw, Elaina and Shannon. Harry meanwhile went with Hermione over to the table to get some juice and cookies. They spotted Ginny with Neville and ended up talking with them for a while. Harry noticed that Hermione was starting to look bored, he decided he better dance with her since he was her "date." He heard an old muggle song called "The Way You Look Tonight" come over the sound system. He stood up, and walked over to where Hermione was sitting. Hermione noticed him coming over, they locked eyes for a minute, her eyes were twinkling against the black sky.  
  
Harry smiled as he approached her, "Could I have this dance Hermione Granger?"  
  
"I'd love to." She smiled sweetly back at him. She took his outstretched hand and followed him onto the dance floor. Harry placed his hands gently on her hips as Hermione draped her arms gently around Harry's neck. Harry couldn't help but gaze at Hermione, he couldn't believe how incredible she looked.  
  
Just then Hermione looked into Harry's eyes, and asked him in a soft whisper. "Is everything alright Harry?"  
  
Harry was a little startled by this question. "Uh, yeah, everything's great Herm, did I tell you that you look absolutely amazing tonight?"  
  
Hermione began to blush "Yes, I think you did eairler, but thanks, you look handsome as well."  
  
This made Harry blush and almost giggle at the same time. "I guess this song fits then doesn't it?"  
  
The words were heard in the background as they continued to dance [I] There's something about the way you look tonight.....[/I]  
  
The song ended all too soon and switched to a more upbeat song. Harry and Hermione pulled away, and smiled.  
  
"Thanks for the dance."  
  
"It was my pleasure, Harry James Potter." Hermione narrowed her eyes intensely.  
  
"Hey Herm, could we go somewhere and talk?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
Harry led Hermione out of the Great Hall and outside, they walked to the lake and sat close to the shore. Harry used a charm to make a blanket so Hermione wouldn't get her beautiful dress dirty.  
  
"Hey, I've been meaning to ask you, whatever happened to Krum?"  
  
Hermione shot a dangerous glance at Harry.  
  
"Well.... it didn't exactly work out, I don't like to talk about it, it's in the past now, I'd like to leave it that way."  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry.... I didn't know...."  
  
"It's ok, so have you talked to Cho lately?"  
  
"No, I really don't care anymore either. Besides I've got my sites set on someone else."  
  
"Who?"  
  
Harry suddenly realized he had said too much, he didn't even know if he had his sites set on anyone else. Then he remembered what Dumbledor had told him, he tried to push it out of his head though, Hermione was one of his best friends and it was going to stay that way.  
  
"Oh, no one."  
  
"Harry..... you're lying!!! C'mon I won't tell anyone, who is it?"  
  
"Listen, if you're not going to tell me about Krum then I'm not going to talk about this!" Harry was beginning to get a little defensive.  
  
"Ok, lets just drop everything then."  
  
"I'm sorry for yelling Herm, I guess I got a little carried away."  
  
"It's ok."  
  
Harry and Hermione spent the rest of the time discussing school, making fun of Ron and Julia, and making a shopping list for the Hogsmede trip coming up in November. After about an hour they decided to go back inside for the last part of the dance.  
  
Just as they entered the great hall again, the song [I] Lady in Red [/I] came on. This time Hermione asked Harry to dance, he agreed and followed her to the dance floor.  
  
"This song is also perfect," he said softly.  
  
"This night has been perfect," she replied.  
  
Harry looked at Hermione, he wanted to remember exactly how she looked, he didn't know why, but there was just something about her that he didn't want to forget. Harry didn't even notice what he was doing, but he began to pull Hermione in closer to him. By the end of the song they were dancing in a tight embrace. The song ended, and so did the dance, Hermione pulled away slightly, and smiled again at Harry. Harry put out his arm, Hermione took it and he escorted her back to the Gryfindor common room. When they arrived it was empty.  
  
"Harry, thanks for a wonderful evening."  
  
"Your welcome, thank you for asking me to go with you."  
  
"Well.. I didn't really, but I guess I kinda did, well... Oh I don't know." Hermione was now stammering nervously. "Well, I guess I better be getting to bed, it's late."  
  
"Yeah, me too. Goodnight Hermione."  
  
"Goodnight Harry." She turned to walk up the stairs to the girls dormitory. Harry just stood there watching her, he didn't know what it was, but suddenly everything was different, he was confused and his head was racing. Harry began slowly up to his room, he hoped that a goodnights sleep would cure him of some of his confusion.  
  
Chapter Twenty Five: Julia and Ron  
  
As Harry was headed up the stairs to his room he heard Ron and Julia enter the common room. Both of them were laughing and talking enthusiastically.  
  
"Ron I had the greatest time. Thank you so much!"  
  
"Sure, it really was a great evening wasn't it?" Ron grinned from ear to ear.  
  
"Yeah, we should get together more often."  
  
"Yeah, I guess we should."  
  
Harry couldn't help but spy on them, afterall he felt a certain obligation to make sure Ron didn't try to do anything to his "little" sister. (Dumbledor had informed them last month that Harry was 6 minutes older then Julia.) Harry felt a brotherly obligation to look out for her. But deep down he just wanted to be snoopy, he thought it was cute that Ron was finally getting along well with a girl.  
  
"Well then, I guess this is goodnight." Julia said.  
  
"Yes, goodnight, but I hope it's not goodbye." Ron replied.  
  
"Goodbye? Why would it be that?"  
  
"Well I guess it means, I hope that we can do this again, you know just the two of us, I hope this wasn't just a one time only thing."  
  
Julia smiled mysteriously at Ron, she hugged him goodnight and started for the stairs. Ron didn't know what got into him but suddenly he found himself pulling her wrist back towards him. Julia locked eyes with Ron as he kissed her softly on the lips. Julia smiled once more at Ron as she headed up to her room. Ron just stood there for a minute, trying to process what had just happened.  
  
Meanwhile Harry was amused at what he had saw. [I] Ah look, my best friend and my sister, don't they make a cute couple.[/I] Harry knew he shouldn't tease Ron about it, and he also knew that he shouldn't tell Hermione about it behind Ron's back, but Harry didn't know how he was going to keep this under wraps. He decided he'd tell Hermione and they could joke about it in private. Harry made his way up to his room, quickly got in bed. He pretended to be asleep when Ron came in.  
  
Ron entered the room, looking like he'd just been hit by cupid's arrow, he dreamily made it over to his four poster bed and went to sleep.  
  
Harry meanwhile was still awake, his mind was still racing. Ron and Julia had been a good distraction, but somehow he still kept going over the night in is mind. He couldn't get Hermione out of his mind, the way she looked, the way she spoke so sweatly, everything seemed to intoxicate Harry. [I] Harry you really have to stop this, she's your friend, nothing more! [/I] Harry was beginning to drift off, finally he slept.  
  
Meanwhile in the girls dormitories Hermione and Julia stayed up late talking about their evenings.  
  
"Ron introduced me to so many new people, I didn't even realize he knew all of those people!" Julia exclaimed.  
  
"Yeah, I think he knows a lot through his older brothers."  
  
"So we mingled a lot, danced a lot, you know he's a pretty good dancer."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah, we had so much fun on the fast songs, but he slow dances pretty well too."  
  
Both of the girls giggled. Julia decided not to tell Hermione about the kiss Ron had just given her, she didn't really know if it meant anything or not, she was going to have to talk to Ron in the morning.  
  
"So how was your evening with Harry?"  
  
"Wonderful." Hermione said dreamily.  
  
"Uh Oh, I think we've lost another one to la la land!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Oh just an expression we use in America, whenever someone's eyes glaze over and they start talking in that dreamy tone we say they've been lost to la la land."  
  
"Oh ok." Hermione was still confused. "Well we talked to some people, danced, and then we went out and sat by the lake and just talked with each other for like an hour."  
  
"Wow, what did you talk about?"  
  
"School, Hagrid, everything, we had so much catching up to do."  
  
"Ah I see....."  
  
"Julia what are you getting at?" Hermione asked defensively.  
  
"Nothing, nothing at all. Well it's late, we should get some sleep."  
  
"Yeah we should, goodnight."  
  
Julia went to sleep almost immediately but Hermione was awake for quite sometime thinking about her evening. [I] There was defiantly something different with Harry tonight. It was in his eyes or something....Things were just different with us tonight, there was a different kind of connection or something.....[/I] Slowly Hermione's thoughts drifted off into sleep, she would ponder Harry some other time.  
  
Chapter Twenty Six: Gryfindor vs. Slytherine.  
  
Things got back to normal after the Halloween dance. Harry had decided that the atmosphere of the dance must have made him see Hermione differently, he tried to think of her as just his old school buddy, and it was working. Meanwhile Hermione too had thought that the dance just had an affect on her mind, and now that classes were back to normal Harry was just her friend.  
  
Ron and Julia on the other hand had been seeing a lot of each other lately. They refused to call it "dating" they were just two friends "hanging out" with each other. Harry knew better though, he hadn't ever seen Ron as happy as he had been these past few days.  
  
The morning of November 15th arrived and Harry woke early, today was the first Quidditch match of the season, Gryfindor vs. Slytherine. Harry was overly excited for today's match because it was his first game since his third year. The tri-wizard tournament during Harry's last year meant that Quidditch did not take place. Harry quickly dressed and went down for breakfast, he found Ron, Fred and George already there.  
  
"Here's the man of the hour!" Fred said enthusiastically. "Eat up, we need our seeker fully charged for today's match."  
  
Harry was feeling a little nervous about today's match. He wanted to win so badly, but to do so he was going to have to face Malfoy. Harry was determined to leave Malfoy in the dust, nothing was going to ruin his mood. After breakfast the boys headed down to the locker room where they found the three Gryfindor girls already there. Harry changed into his scarlet quidditch robes and then joined the team for the traditional pep talk.  
  
The team gathered around Alica Spinnet, who had been selected as the new captain.  
  
"Ok guys, this is going to be one of the toughest matches of the entire season, but we can do it. We've got the best seeker in the history of Hogwarts.."  
  
Harry blushed  
  
"We've got two outstanding beaters."  
  
Fred and George smiled.  
  
"Our new keeper is better then the great Oliver Wood himself."  
  
Ron went beat red.  
  
"And we've got the fastest chasers in the school."  
  
Alica looked over to her fellow chasers, Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell.  
  
"The goal for today's game is going to be that of defense, the one weakness of Slytherine is their offense, and we need to make sure that their lack of corridination among their chasers works to our advantage. Keep the quaffle away from our goal as much as possible, I know the crowd loves spectacular saves, but lets keep them to a minimum. And of course Harry we need you to catch the snitch as soon as possible, no matter what the score is, just get it!!!!"  
  
The team, feeling energized put their hands into the middle of the circle and shouted "GRYFINDOR!" as they prepared to be called onto the quidditch field.  
  
Ron looked up at the stands, they were completely full. He caught a glimps of Julia sitting next to Hermione, he began to blush.  
  
"Easy there Ron, we still have a match to play." Harry said sarcastically.  
  
Ron blushed even more because Harry had seen him.  
  
Lee Jordan was at the microphone commentating once again. Professor McGonigal was in her usual position ready to remind Lee not to be biased.  
  
"Hello, and welcome to the first quidditch match in an entire YEAR, GRYFINDOR VERSES SLYTHERINE!!!!!!!!" The crowd went nuts.  
  
"Now the Slytherine team line up......" Lee called out the names of the Slytherine team, but they were barely heard above the boos being shouted by most of the school, slytherine of course was cheering loudly.  
  
"And now, the one, the only the amazing..ow, sorry professor...... TEAM GRYFINDOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
The crowd went nuts again.  
  
"Playing for Gryfindor today we have our three beautiful chasers, Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson and our new Captain Alica Spinnet!!!!!!!"  
  
"Here comes the two BEST beaters in the school, my best friends, my pals, my buddys till the..ouch, ok ok sorry professor. Fred and George Weasly!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
"And ladies and gentleman he's taking the place of the legendary Oliver Wood, he's quick, he's sharp and Syltherine doesn't stand a chance against.... OW, PROFESSOR!! Here he is Ron Weasly!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
"And last, but defiantly not least, the man, the mystery, the legand, HARRY POTTER!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
Alica Spinnet shook hands, while giving the look of death to the Slytherine captain, Madam Hooch blew her whistle and they were off.  
  
Harry hovered high above the course looking for the snitch, Malfoy though was no where to be seen. Harry listened to Lee's Commentary.  
  
"Spinnet passes to Bell, Bell passes to Johnson, Oh no WATCH OUT! Woah, nice save there by the Weasly twins, Johnson fakes out, passes to Bell, BELL SCORES!!!!! 20- 0!!!!!!!!!"  
  
"Slytherine in possession, wait no, interception by Spinnet!!! Spinnet zooms down towards the Slytherine goal, oh my gosh is that, oh no, Spinnet is knocked off her broom by a Slytherine chaser, THAT'S NOT FAIR, PLAY NICE YOU SCUMBAGS!!!!!!!!!! (sorry professor). Bell recovers the quaffle, Gryfindor in possession, Spinnet back on her broom, pass to Johnson, Johnson fast pass to Spinnet, SPINNET SCORES!!!!!!!! 40-0 GRYFINDOR!!!!!!!!"  
  
Suddenly something caught Harry's eye, it was the Snitch!! But it was right under Malfoy who had now made himself visible to the rest of the playing field. If Harry went for it, Malfoy would see it and reach down and catch it!! Harry decided to do something that Malfoy almost always fell for, he started a deep dive down on his broom, acting as if he saw the snitch..... Malfoy didn't follow!!!!!!! Malfoy was still in his same postion, he wasn't falling for it this time!!!! Harry panicked, he had to distract Malfoy long enough for the snitch to move postions!! He thought quickly and then suddenly remembered what Dumbledor had told him. [I] You have the power to control things with your mind..... all of those times when the snitch suddenly turned towards you, and you caught it, you were using your mind. [/I] The only problem was though that Harry hadn't began his mind training yet, but he decided to try anyways. Instead of calling the snitch to him, Harry decided to try making it dive down to the ground, his firebolt could outrun Malfoy's Nimbus 2001 anyday. Harry though hard towards the snitch [I] dive, dive to the ground, dive......[/I] It worked!!!!!!! The snitch quickly went towards the ground, straight under Malfoy, Harry made a sharp dive, sweeped right under Malfoy and headed for the snitch. By the time Malfoy knew what had happened Harry was within inches of the snitch. Harry stretched out his hand and wrapped his fingers around the tiny golden ball. He landed and held it up triumphantly!!  
  
"POTTER CATCHES THE SNITCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GRYFINDOR WINS IN A SHUTOUT, 190- 0!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
Harry couldn't believe it, Slytherine didn't score once, Gryfindor had just had it's biggest victory against Slytherine in Hogwarts history!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
The rest of the team rushed down to Harry, they were hugging each other madly. Ron was beaming, he had saved the quaffle everytime, even wood never had a shutout!!! Harry then saw Wood in the stands with Professor McGonagal. He was beaming proudly, exstatic that they had shut out Slytherine. Within minutes Julia and Hermione were on the field with many of the other Gryfindors to congradulate the team. Julia ran up to Harry and gave him a huge hug.  
  
"This is my brother!!!" She yelled excitdley.  
  
Harry grinned at her "Yeah, your BIG brother!!" He reminded her.  
  
Julia then turned around to hug Ron, Ron kissed her on the cheek, both of them were blushing madly, meanwhile Harry and Hermione were laughing hysterically. Hermione hugged Harry, he hugged her a little tighter then normal, although he was sure it was only because she was one of his best friends.  
  
The celebration on the field continued for quite sometime, soon they made their way back to the common room where a huge party was held, lasting until the early hours of the morning.  
  
Chapter Twenty Seven: Back to class.  
  
When Monday came around Harry and Ron were still in a euphoria over their win against Slytherine over the weekend. Hermione kindly reminded them that classes started in twenty minutes and they needed to come back down to reality. They ate breakfast and then headed to their first class of the day, Defense Against the Dark Arts.  
  
Harry dreaded this class everyday. Professor Malfoy hated anyone who wasn't a Slytherine, and he hated Harry even more then anyone else. But Malfoy was also scared of Harry, because he knew that Julia was his twin sister, and he didn't want to find out how powerful the two of them together could be, so he tried his best not to make either one of them mad. This arrangment also extended to Ron and Hermione since they were best friends of Harry and Julia. Harry also suspected that Draco knew about him and Julia as well because he hadn't bothered Harry all year, and this was espically odd.  
  
When they entered the classroom they were shocked to see a new teacher standing behind the desk.  
  
"LUPIN!!" Harry exclaimed!! Ron and Hermione followed Harry quickly to greet Lupin. Julia of course had no idea who this new teacher was. Harry excitedly told Lupin the quick version of Julia being his twin, he told Julia quickly about how Lupin had been their old Defense teacher during his third year (he left the werewolf part out.) They took their normal seats and waited for class to begin.  
  
"Goodmorning class, Professor Malfoy was called away on some emergency business, he won't be back until after your Christmas break, so I will be filling in for him until then."  
  
For the first time all year they actually learned something new, they practiced getting rid of a blinding hex and they learned how to better protect themselves from the terrible [I] Crucio [/I] curse. When class ended, Harry and Ron stayed behind to talk to Lupin some more while Hermione and Julia headed to charms. Ron and Harry had to sprint to get to charms on time, they made it at the last minute.  
  
"Nice of you to join us," Hermione said.  
  
"Yeah, I was hoping maybe I could get my big brother in trouble." Julia teased. Harry and Ron said nothing but sat down quietly. Little Professor Flitwick was teaching them today the charm for making things appear out of thin air. They started small, Hermione immediately made a feather appear, Julia got hers few mintues after Hermione. Ron was struggling with his and finally made a very small feather, Harry though couldn't get his to work at all, he was saying to himself [I] c'mon, why can't I make a dumb feather? [/I] Just then a large feather appeared in front of Harry, Julia and Ron gasped, Hermione looked stunned.  
  
"Very good Mr. Potter, very good. Ten points to Gryfindor."  
  
They left charms, Hermione obviously upset about Harry outdoing her.  
  
"Herm, I wasn't trying to outdo you, it just kinda happened, I don't know how though." Harry said apologetically.  
  
"Yeah I know Harry, I guess I can't be the best at everything right?" Hermione smiled a little, this made Harry feel better.  
  
"Why don't we go get some lunch?" Julia suggested.  
  
After lunch they headed to their secret class, WIA. Whenever anyone asked them what class they were taking during that hour they had to tell them they were taking a trial class on wizard languages, and that the class was going to be offered to everyone next year. They entered the classroom to find the other three were already there.  
  
Nick and Claudia said hello to them, Dylan was busy reading a history book. They chatted quietly, over the past few months the seven of them had become good friends. They were still learning the basics about how the WIA operated, they hadn't started working on their individual talents or working on using their talents together in the group. Professor Dumbledor entered and the class went silent.  
  
"Alright, I have been impressed with your dedication to this very important matter, you will spend the rest of this term working in the library to build an archive of past events involving dark magic, you will need this knowledge to consult in the future, so please do it carefully. I would ask that you allow Dylan to lead you in this since he is our history consultant, but of course lets all work equally and together on this project. After Christmas you will each begin fine tuning your indivdual skills and practice as a group in various situations. Enjoy!"  
  
Dumbledor swept out of the room, the seven students looked at each other.  
  
Finally Dylan suggested, "Why don't we take today off? We've been working hard and half of class is already over, so why don't we start tomorrow in the library?"  
  
The six other students agreed this was a good idea and they departed back to their common rooms.  
  
When Ron, Julia, Harry and Hermione arrived in the Gryfindor common room they settled into their usual corner and began talking.  
  
"Hey what are you guys doing for Christmas this year?" Julia asked.  
  
"I don't know, are any of you going to stay?" Hermione asked.  
  
Harry looked around, he decided he should tell Ron and Hermione. "Well I've been invited to spend Christmas with Julia and my Aunt Rose at her vacation house in Wales. So I'm actually going to go somewhere this year!" Harry was excited to finally spend Christmas with a family, but he felt guilty leaving Ron and Hermione, they had spent the past three Christmas holidays together.  
  
Ron spoke next, "My entire family is going to the burrow this year, so I really have to go back, my mum will kill me if I'm not there."  
  
That left Hermione, "Well then I guess it's settled, I'll go home and spend Christmas with my parents, I haven't got to spend Christmas with them in nearly four years, it will be nice."  
  
"It's going to be weird not to be here." Harry said.  
  
"Yeah, but we'll all be with family and that's what's important." Ron said.  
  
"I know, but you guys are my family too, I fell guilty almost."  
  
"Hey I know!!! Why don't we ask McGonagal when she brings the list around if we could go home for the first week and come back for the second week of vacation, that way we can spend a week with our familes and a week with each other!"  
  
"Hermione, you're brillant!" Harry said excitedly "I hope they let us!"  
  
Hermione blushed at Harry's compliment, the list would be coming around tomorrow so they would ask then.  
  
The rest of the evening was pleasant, they did their homework and played some wizards chess, well Hermione and Julia just watched, but it was still fun. Hermione decided she was going to go to bed early and get some extra sleep, Julia followed. Ron and Harry stayed up to finish their game before going up to bed. Harry was glad that everything seemed to be normal, and he was glad to finally have a family.  
  
Chapter Twenty Eight: Christmas Break  
  
Christmas was approaching fast as the end of the term neared. Harry and his friends had worked it out with Professor McGonagal and Professor Dumbledor to spend the first half of vacation away with their families and return to Hogwarts for the last half.  
  
Snow was falling softly on the grounds of Hogwarts. Harry was standing at one of the windows in the Gryfindor common room, watching Ron and Julia have a snowball fight on the grounds below. He didn't even notice Hermione come up and stand next to him.  
  
"Hey, is anyone home in there?"  
  
"What.. oh hi Hermione, didn't see yah."  
  
"Yeah I noticed, so should we go down there and play with them, or let them be...well you know [I] alone [/I]"  
  
Harry chuckled, "Oh I don't know, I was thinking it would be fun to just stay here and relax, the common room is almost never this empty and peaceful you know."  
  
"Yeah that's true."  
  
"So would you like to join me for some butterbeer, or would you rather go outside?" Harry grinned mysteriously.  
  
"Butterbeer? How are we going to get that?"  
  
"Oh, Sirus taught me a little trick. Something that the Marauders invented back in their days here at Hogwarts."  
  
Harry led Hermione over to one of the pictures that hung in one of the corners of the room, the corner where they usually sat in fact. He pushed the picture to the right, pushed a secret stone, that was in fact a button, and then suddenly a small spout appeared right above the small end table. Harry had been practicing the charm [I] aperio aireo [/I] and made two glasses appear from out of no where. He placed the mugs under the spout and out poured the warm, sweet Honeybeer.  
  
"How in the heck.."  
  
"My father did it during one of his stays with Lupin up at the old shrieking shack, he made a direct line from the supply in Three Broomsticks, I guess the Marauders used to come down here at like two in the morning and drink this stuff until sunrise, then sneak back up to bed."  
  
Hermione giggled "I can't believe no one in Three Broomsticks has found out about this!"  
  
"Well, they kept it a very guarded secret, and we have to do the same, man just think, Ron and Julia are missing out big time!"  
  
"So we aren't telling them about it?"  
  
"Why should we, they are obviously busy with [I] other [/I] things."  
  
Harry and Hermione spent the entire afternoon talking and drinking Butterbeer, it wasn't until dinner time that Ron and Julia finally returned.  
  
The next morning was the beginning of the Christmas Holiday break. Harry, Julia, Ron and Hermione headed to the Hogsmede station to board the Hogwarts Express back to Kings Cross Station. Harry felt a little weird about leaving, this was the first time he wasn't spending Christmas at Hogwarts, but somehow he still felt excited about finally spending Christmas with family, and not muggle realitives, but actual wizard family.  
  
They boarded the majestic scarlet train and headed to their usual compartment. Once inside they gave each other their Christmas gifts, but they didn't open them, they were all going to wait and open them on Christmas day. Harry knew what one of his packages was though, Ron had given it to him, it was from his mother, he knew it was his yearly sweater that she had knitted, Harry was curious to see what color he had received this year.  
  
They passed the time on the train by talking and playing exploding snap. Harry and Ron were bewildered when Julia beat them.  
  
"Wow, sis, I didn't know you knew how to play this so well" Harry said.  
  
"What do you mean, my friends and I INVENTED this game back in the states!"  
  
They began laughing, and arguing over who had thought the game up first.  
  
Harry sat across from Hermione, he had been trying to think of her as his same old school friend, but he still couldn't erase that picture of her at the Halloween dance from his mind. And now watching her laughing and talking casually made him feel even more strange. Butterflies were dancing around his stomach, there was something about Hermione that made Harry feel so different, so [I] wonderful [/I] inside. He didn't know what it was, but ever since the night of the dance Harry couldn't stop thinking about Hermione, not Hermione his smart, sometimes bossy and genius friend, but Hermione, the beautiful young woman, the kind, funny, sweet young woman.....  
  
"Harry, everything ok?" Hermione interrupted his thoughts. "You're just staring off into space."  
  
"Oh, um, yeah, I'm fine, just thinking about Christmas."  
  
Hermione smiled sweetly at him, then went back to reading her book. But she wasn't concentrating on her book. [I] What are you thinking about Harry James Potter? Why are you so difficult to figure out? I know the way you were looking at me that night that there was something different between us, something was there that had never been there before. But then you woke up the next morning acting like nothing was different, oh Harry, why, why do you boys have to be so difficult? [/I]  
  
The train was slowing down as it approached the Kings Cross station. Harry and Ron waited and let the girls exit the compartment first. Ron though quickly caught up with Julia and walked her out onto platform 9 ¾. This left Harry and Hermione walking together, both of them were silent. Ron saw his mother waiting for him on the platform. She greeted Harry and Hermione, was introduced to Julia and after a nice short talk she wished them a marry Christmas and headed for the porthole with Ginny. Ron bid his friends goodbye, he kissed Julia on the cheek and then followed his mom through the porthole back into the muggle world. Julia saw one of her friends from Ravenclaw and went over to talk to her, which once again left Harry and Hermione alone. Harry looked around and remembered coming into Kings Cross at the end of his fourth year, he had stood right here and wished Hermione a good summer when she kissed him on his cheek.  
  
Harry looked at Hermione, "Well I guess I'll see you in a week."  
  
"Yeah, I hope everything goes well at your new aunt's house."  
  
"I'm sure everything will be great."  
  
"Well then, I guess I should be going, Merry Christmas Harry."  
  
"And Merry Christmas to you Hermione." Harry didn't know what made him do it, but as he moved closer to hug Hermione goodbye he locked eyes with her and gently kissed her on her lips.  
  
Chapter Twenty Nine: Christmas with Harry Potter and Julia Evans  
  
Two days had passed since Harry and Julia had arrived at the Kings Cross station. Two days since Harry had kissed his best friend on the lips, two days that Harry had been agonizing over his true feelings for Hermione.  
  
It was Christmas morning and Harry awoke early due to his excitement. His Aunt Rose had been wonderful, she was so motherly to him, so kind. She had long auburn hair and bright blue eyes, she looked remarkably like the pictures of her older sister, Harry's mother Lily. The small little cottage where Harry, Julia and Aunt Rose were spending their vactation was lovely and warmly decorated for Christmas, a large Christmas tree filled the main living room, it was decorated his thousands of tiny white lights. Harry quickly got dressed and headed downstairs, Julia was already there, obviously excited as well.  
  
"Merry Christmas Harry!!!!!!!!"  
  
"Merry Christmas Julia, is your mom awake yet?" Julia had grown up knowing Aunt Rose as "Mom" all of her life, and that's the way things were going to stay, Julia was also keeping her last name, afterall she had been Julia Evans for fifteen years and changing her last name to Potter just didn't seem right.  
  
"No, but I wish she would hurry up!!!! I want to open my presents, although I guess we could start without her."  
  
"No, we should wait, surely she won't be much longer."  
  
"Yeah, well ok. What should we do in the meantime then?"  
  
"I don't know, why don't we just talk, we haven't really ever done that." Harry wasn't quite sure why he had suggested this.  
  
"Sure, that would be great."  
  
"Ok, so um....how are things going with you and Ron?"  
  
Julia began to blush. "Well, he's a great guy, I can see why he's been your best friend for five years, he really has a good heart you know."  
  
"Yeah...."  
  
"Anyways, I don't know, I love hanging out with him, and we talk a lot, he listens so well, but our friendship is so good that I don't want to risk it with anything stupid."  
  
"I understand completely."  
  
"Really? Oh wait, that's right...I almost forgot!!! Hermione!!!!!"  
  
"What about her?"  
  
"What do you mean what about her? Harry, I know that you two have been great friends for five years as well, but really Harry you two would make a great couple, but then again I guess you're in my position, not wanting to mess things up."  
  
"Yeah I guess I am, although I'm not even sure that Hermione wants to even think about being anything more then good friends, so I think its best we just stay best friends, nothing more." Harry was once again trying to push any thoughts of Hermione out of his head.  
  
"Oh Harry, why are you guys so STUPID???????"  
  
"I'm sorry, but uh, what did I do now?"  
  
"Harry, she's crazy about you....."  
  
Harry just sat there, dumbfounded. "What?" he whispered.  
  
"Yeah she's been crazy for you since the beginning of your fourth year, I can't even believe I'm telling you this, she's gonna kill me, but Harry open your eyes, can't you see it, she wants to be more then just best friends with you. But she's too scared to tell you, I've been trying to get her to come clean with you all year but she's scared of embarrassment and rejection."  
  
Harry just sat there silently for a moment. "So Dumbledor was right...."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Oh nothing, just something else that I remembered. Wow, now I really don't know what to do."  
  
"Welcome to my world." Julia was now smirking.  
  
"What do you think I should do?"  
  
"Well, how do you feel about her?"  
  
"I don't know, I mean that night at the dance, there was defiantly something there, I couldn't take my eyes off of her, and then ever since then I can't stop thinking about her, but I don't know what it is I'm feeling."  
  
Julia started laughing.  
  
"Forget it, if you're going to laugh at me......"  
  
"No, no, I'm not laughing at your confession, I'm laughing at your stupidy, geeze you guys really are dense. Sounds to me like you've got a little crush yourself Harry."  
  
Harry just sat there silently, again.  
  
"Anyways if I were you I would talk to her about it, and if you really are concerned about your friendship then let her know, she might agree and decide that being friends is best."  
  
"Yeah, I guess....so does this mean you're going to talk to Ron?"  
  
"Whoa, since when did this become a joint agreement." Julia said defensively.  
  
"Well, I think you need to talk to him too, I mean he seems to kinda think that you guys are well, you know 'an item' and if you're never going to be one then I think he needs to know."  
  
"Ron really thinks that?"  
  
"Yeah, he's kinda told me that in a roundabout way." Harry was now the one smirking.  
  
"Alright, I guess I'll talk to him when we get back."  
  
"What are you going to tell him?"  
  
"I don't know, I haven't really decided yet."  
  
Just then Aunt Rose came down the stairs. "Good Morning!!!!!!!!! Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!"  
  
"Merry Christmas" Julia and Harry said in unison.  
  
Harry was relieved his Aunt was awake, this way he could avoid telling Julia about the kiss in the train station...something that he didn't really want to discuss with anyone except Hermione.  
  
"Well what are you guys waiting for, let's open the presents!!"  
  
Julia started with her present from Harry, he had bought her a pair of Quidditch gloves, she hoped to make the house team next year when all three chaser positions opened up.  
  
"Wow, thank you so much Harry!" Julia hugged him lightly.  
  
"You're welcome, you just better be able to use them next year!" Harry said jokingly.  
  
"Oh I hope I will!"  
  
Harry opened his gift from Julia next, it was a present from the United States.  
  
"It's called a gameboy, all the guys back home love em, you can play them by yourself whenever Ron is too busy to play wizards chess."  
  
"Wow, thanks Julia, Dudley would be SO jealous right now!" Harry laughed imagining his look knowing that Harry now owned a Gameboy.  
  
Aunt Rose was next, she handed Julia and Harry each small packages. "Your mother and father left these for you. You weren't supposed to have them until you turned sixteen, but I figured six months early couldn't hurt."  
  
Julia opened her box, it was a beautiful silver ring with a single diamond set in the middle, "Oh my gosh..."  
  
"It was your mother's, well yours and Harry's mother's engagment ring, James gave it to her at the end of their seventh year at Hogwarts."  
  
Julia just sat, staring peacefully at the beautiful ring. Harry opened his box next, it was a handsome old pocket watch. Harry turned it over to find the inscription that read [I] To James, with all my love, Lil [/I].  
  
"That was the watch your mother gave your father for his sixteenth birthday, once he had become the offical leader of the WIA."  
  
"Wow..." Harry whispered softly.  
  
Harry and Julia sat in silence examining their family heirloom gifts.  
  
"Hey, but I got you guys a little something as well.." Aunt Rose handed them each larger boxes.  
  
"WOW, BROOMSTICK KITS!!!!!!!!" Julia was excited to receive a servicing kit for her broomstick, the Quicksweep 700.  
  
Harry also received a kit, "Thanks so much" Harry didn't mention that Hermione had already given him a similar one for his birthday two years ago. He just politely put it with the rest of his presents, he decided that Ron could use one of the kits.  
  
Julia then opened the gifts she received from her friends. Hermione had given her a lovely earring and necklace set with a note attached that said now she would have something to wear with that muggle ball gown of hers. It turns out Julia wore dress robes to the dance because she didn't have any jewelry with her that went with her muggle dress. Hagrid had sent a box of Bertie Bots Every Flavor Beans, there was also a package from Mrs. Weasley that had arrived by owl post. Julia had a purple Weasley sweater so that she would not be left out from the yearly tradition. Finally she opened Ron's, It was a beautiful silver locket that was engraved with her initials.  
  
"Wow....this is gorgeous." Julia was now debating on what to do about Ron as she put the locket around her neck, something told her that a friend wouldn't give her something like this, something told her that her relationship with Ron was about to be something more.  
  
Harry meanwhile opened his presents. Ron had given him a book about the latest Quidditch moves and plays. Hagrid had sent him a box of chocolate frogs. He too got a Weasley sweater, it was dark green this year. He saved Hermione's gift for last, he was shocked when he opened it, it was an amazing gold ring that had his initials engraved among phoenix feathers, the phoenix feathers were red and orange and were brillant against the gold band. Harry was speechless, he had never received something so special in his whole life.  
  
Chapter Thirty: Christmas With The Weasleys.  
  
Ron had been miserable since his arrival back at the burrow. His entire family was home for Christmas, this of course included his super annoying oldest brother Bill, his "Too Perfect for Everyone" brother Percy and his stupid girlfriend Penelope Clearwater. The only thing that made the vacation slightly enjoyable was Fred and George with their pranks that seemed to be directed mostly at making Percy's life miserable. Ron thought it was hilarious when Percy shouted "MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!" at the top of his lungs, for someone who had just turned 19 and was working for the ministry, Percy was sure acting like a baby.  
  
Christmas morning arrived and the entire Weasley family (all 8 of them plus their two guests, Penelope, and Lizzy, Bill's girlfriend) gathered around the Christmas tree in the living room of the cozy burrow. After spending almost an hour exchanging family gifts and chatting, Ron finally got to open the gifts from his friends.  
  
He opened Harry's first, he had given him a book titled "The greatest keeper in Quidditch History." Inside Ron found the note Harry had written him.  
  
[I] Merry Chirstmas Ron, pretty soon they'll have to re-write this thing to include you!!!  
  
Your Best Friend, Harry [/I]  
  
Ron put the book aside, excited to go look at it later, he then opened Hermione's gift. She had given him mystical looking ball. He read the attached note.  
  
[I] Dear Ron,  
  
I thought you might use this to improve your "eye" skills for Divination, but seeing how you don't need to have the "eye" anymore I thought it would just be fun.  
  
Hermione [/I]  
  
Ron looked closer at the ball and realized it was an orb, something that would change colors to tell you if you were going to have a good or bad day.  
  
Ron opened Julia's gift last. She had given him an engraved silver plate that could be attached to his broomstick. It said : "Ronald Weasley, Gryfindor Quidditch Team Keeper." In smaller letters it said, "With love, Julia." Ron blushed at the thought of Julia, even though he didn't really know if they were a "couple" or not she had still become one of his great friends and he was estatic to be able to add the beautiful plate to his broomstick. "Wow, even Harry doesn't have one of these." He said quietly to himself.  
  
Chapter Thirty One: Christmas with Hermione Granger.  
  
Hermione was tossing and turning for the second night in a row. She couldn't stop thinking about Harry and that kiss at King's Cross two days ago. [I] What was that supposed to mean? Was it just a friendly kiss? No.....friends don't do that.....or do they? He did kiss me right? I'm not just dreaming this up am I? [/I] BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ...  
  
Hermione was startled by her alarm clock going off, it was 7:30 on Christmas morning, time to go open presents!!!! She hurried downstairs of her muggle house, she didn't even bother to change out of her pajamas. She found her mother and father already waiting for her.  
  
"Merry Christmas sweetie." Her father said cheerfully.  
  
"It really is good to have you home this year, I was beginning to miss this." Her mother added.  
  
They sat down to open presents. Hermione's parents had given her a broomstick of her very own. The Mystic 1000.  
  
"Oh my gosh!!!!!!! I don't know how to thank you enough!!!!!!!"  
  
"Well honey, it's not anything like that Firebolt that your friend Harry has, but it's an excellent broom for long distance travel and has gentle steering and maneuvering." Her dad was very pleased with his knowledge of the broom.  
  
"It's perfect, a broom that is good for travel, I don't need one that is supereb during high speed turns and chases because I don't play quidditch."  
  
"Well, that's what we figured honey." Her mother said, smiling.  
  
Hermione was excited to go try her new broom out, but first she decide to open the presents her friends had given her. She opened Julia's first, she had given her a bottle of Madame Sassoon Hair Taming Potion, a hair product found only in the U.S. She also gave her a box of nail polish and some excellent smelling perfume called [I] Wizards Girl [/I], also something only sold in the U.S.  
  
She opened Ron's gift next, he had given her a muggle present, a DVD of the movie [I] Monty Python and the Holy Grail. [/I] The note attached to it said:  
  
[I] Hermione,  
  
I hope you enjoy this movie, it has a lot of middle ages history in it, and is pretty funny so I thought you might like it, Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!  
  
Ron[/I]  
  
Hermione opened Harry's gift last. It was a heavy package. She gasped when she opened it.. "Oh my gosh, he remembered!"  
  
Inside was a medium sized book titled "A wizards guide to Divination in the magical world." It was a book Hermione had mentioned to Harry months ago, during WIA class. She had mentioned that the library didn't have a copy and she really wanted to read it. "I can't believe he remembered after all these months!" Hermione then opened to the book to find that Harry had written a note inside.  
  
[I] Dear Hermione,  
  
I remember you telling me about this book, and since you love to read so much I though you would enjoy this. Merry Christmas, I will see you again soon.  
  
Love from your friend, Harry [/I]  
  
Hermione noticed the last part of the note, it said "Love from your [I] friend [/I]. She decided that this is all Harry wanted to be. But then she realized that he had wrapped this before they left Hogwarts, because he had given her the present as they pulled out of the Hogsmeade station. [I] Maybe he changed his mind by the time we arrived in London, afterall he did kiss me, and on the lips no less.....[/I]  
  
Hermione spent the remainder of her Christmas pondering Harry and if she should take Julia's advice and talk to him. She had no luck in deciding what to do, but she decided that she would figure out if she truly had enough feelings about him to risk it all and tell him on the way back to school at the end of the week. For now Hermione was busy reading her new book and she even found time to watch Ron's movie, which she thought was the funniest muggle movie she had ever seen.  
  
Finally Christmas day came to an end. [I] One more day and then its back to Hogwarts to spend time with your friends. [/I] Hermione was happy with this though as she drifted off to sleep.  
  
Chapter Thirty Two: Kings Cross Station  
  
The first week of the holiday vacation had passed quickly, and suddenly Harry and Julia found themselves back at Kings Cross Station waiting to meet Hermione and Ron to head back to Hogwarts.  
  
Ron arrived first, he was with his father. Fred, George and Ginny would be returning to school in a week with the rest of the students so Ron finally had gotten himself some peace and quiet. Julia spotted Ron and quickly went to greet him.  
  
While they were talking Hermione appeared with her mother, Harry felt the butterflies fill his stomach once again. He had been thinking about her a lot since he wished her goodbye last week, and he had been waging a war with himself trying to decide what to do. He finally decided on taking Julia's advice, at least partly. Harry was going to tell her, but he just didn't know how, or when, but he did have a few things in mind.  
  
They all boarded the train, a few other students were traveling back early as well, but they were all from other houses. Harry and Ron headed to their usual compartment, Hermione and Julia were following behind. Once inside Harry and Ron decided to discuss their Christmas holidays.  
  
"So then George decided it would be great to give Percy's girlfriend a chocolate frog that had some sort of swelling potion in it, her entire face puffed up just like a puffer fish, oh my gosh, you should have seen the look on his face, I'm still laughing about it...." Ron had a lot to share since his entire family had been together.  
  
Meanwhile Hermione and Julia caught up with each other.  
  
"Yeah so Harry got me some quidditch gloves and my mom gave both me and Harry a broomstick maintance kit, I'm all set to try out for a chaser postion next year."  
  
Hermione didn't mention that Harry already had the maintance kit that she had given him for his birthday two years ago.  
  
Julia continued on about her presents, and eventually launched into a conversation about her friends back in the United States. Hermione was trying to pay attencion, but she just couldn't, somehow she couldn't stop thinking about Harry. [I] He hasn't really even talked to me, now I really don't know what he wants, or what that kiss meant. Maybe I got my hopes up for nothing, maybe it didn't mean anything at all......[/I]  
  
The Hogwarts Express was slowing down to enter the Hogsmeade station. Once they had arrived the four teenage wizards exited their compartment and headed out towards one of two horseless carriages that awaited to take them back to school. Harry found it weird to exit the Hogwarts train and not hear Hagrid ushering the first years over to him. Harry then of course remembered that he had never come back to school by train in the middle of the school year.  
  
Hermione didn't speak to Harry at all that night, she was under the impression that he was blowing her off..being a typical guy. Harry on the other hand thought she was blowing him off, he was going to tell her tonight, but he decided not to, the last thing he wanted to hear was rejection from Hermione. Harry went to bed early, citing exhaustion from the trip, but really he just wanted to be alone. And once he drifted to sleep he had a dream for the first time in three months, but this time it was different...  
  
[I] A beautiful young woman, in her early twenties, long flowing brown hair, perfect ringlets, eyes as blue as the purest ocean on earth. She was reading a book, Harry knew she looked familiar but couldn't tell from where. She looked up from her book and suddenly it hit him.... HERMIONE! He was seeing Hermione in his dream. She smiled gently and then went back to reading her book. [/I] This last image slowy drifted away into nothingness.  
  
Harry awoke with a start. [I] Was I just dreaming about Hermione? Why can't I stop thinking about her? [/I] Harry contemplated Hermione for almost an hour, finally he decided that he had to do it: he had to tell her how he felt, even though he wasn't even sure himself how he felt. All he knew is that Hermione has to know that he feels a connection to her that goes much deeper then just another ordinary friendship.  
  
Chapter Twenty Three: New Years Eve.  
  
Hermione awoke the next morning, she was still irritated with Harry: [I] How could he KISS me and then pretend like nothing happened?[/I] She went down to the common room to find that Ron and Julia were there in front of the fireplace chatting, the rest of the common room remained empty because the other students still hadn't returned from vacation. Harry was no where to be found.  
  
"Goodmorning Hermione," Julia said cheerfully.  
  
"Morning.." she muttered.  
  
"Herm, anything wrong?" Julia asked concerned.  
  
"Um, no nothing.... Hey have you guys seen Harry?"  
  
"Nope," Julia and Ron said in unison.  
  
"Umph...." Hermione sighed sitting down next to Julia.  
  
"Why, what's wrong Hermione?" Ron now joining in the conversation.  
  
"Other then the fact that I want to give Harry a piece of my bloody mind and that I can't because he has once again disappeared, I'M FINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
"Whoa, Hermione you don't need to yell."  
  
"Well geeze Ron, I guess you always are the expert aren't you?"  
  
"Expert on what?" Julia asked getting defensive towards Ron.  
  
"Oh nevermind."  
  
"Ok then..... why do you need to give Harry a piece of your mind, what did he do now?"  
  
"Boys are stupid Julia, you know that?"  
  
"Um...." Julia looked puzzled at Ron. "Yeah I guess they have their moments...."  
  
"Well Harry James Potter seems to have moments ALL the time, I mean one minute he's one thing and then he's something completely different!!!!!!!!!"  
  
"Ok, Hermione I have no idea what you are talking about but I'm sure whatever Harry has 'done' it can be fixed, he probably doesn't even realized he's made you upset." Ron said in defense of Harry.  
  
"Oh yeah Ron, ummm let's see, maybe the fact that he [I] KISSED [/I] me before we left last week, and then comes back pretending like nothing happened, MAYBE THAT'S WHY I'M MAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
Ron and Julia sat there stunned.  
  
"He kissed you...." Julia said softly.  
  
Hermione now sat there, silent.  
  
"God, I wish he would have...." Julia trailed off realizing that Hermione shouldn't know about the conversation she had with Harry over the first week of vacation.  
  
"He would have what?" Hermione said softly.  
  
"What? Oh nothing, just thinking out loud. Listen Herm, why don't you try to [I] calmly [/I] talk to him, maybe he thinks that you don't want to talk about it, that might be why he hasn't said anything."  
  
"Yeah, I guess I should go find him."  
  
Hermione spent the entire morning looking for Harry, he was no where to be found. Finally she gave up and went back to the common room with Julia and Ron where they spent the afternoon drinking Butterbeer out of the secret tap and playing exploding snap. Hermione however became bored after a while and decided to go back to her room to read her new book, even though she was angry with Harry, she couldn't wait to read the book he had given her.  
  
While Hermione was up in her room Harry finally made an appearance.  
  
"Harry! Where in the heck...."  
  
"Shhhhh! Where's Herm?" He whispered softly.  
  
"She's up in her room reading, she wants to talk to you by the way." Julia narrowed her eyes at her brother, with an almost disapproving look.  
  
"Ok look, I need your help, can you guys somehow get her to the top of the North East Tower at 11:45 tonight?"  
  
"Harry...."  
  
"It's important Julia.." Harry now narrowed his eyes to give her the look to let her know that he had a plan.  
  
"Alright, I can try, I'm assuming you want to be [I]alone[/I] though." Julia was now smiling mischievously.  
  
"Thanks!"  
  
Harry turned and left the common room, disappearing for the rest of the evening.  
  
Julia meanwhile had a plan. She was going to tell Hermione that her friends in Ravenclaw were having a New Years Eve party in the North East Tower and invite her (or rather make her) come. The plan worked perfectly and at 11:30 they headed out of the common room towards the North East Tower. When they got to the top of the tower Julia "suddenly" realized she had left her gift for her friend back in her dorm room.  
  
"Oh, I'll have to run back and get that real quick!"  
  
"That's ok, I'll come with you.."  
  
"No that's alright, why don't you go in and tell them I've forgotten something and that I will be back in ten minutes so they don't worry when I'm late."  
  
"Well, alright then."  
  
Julia then headed back to the Gryfindor Tower to retrieve her "forgotten gift." Hermione meanwhile entered the room at the top of the tower.  
  
When Hermione opened the door she was shocked at what she saw...........  
  
"Harry! What....."  
  
"Shhh...." He said softly walking towards her. The old abandoned room had been turned into a magical scene out of a fairytale. Millions of tiny white lights floated in the air above them, lighting up the room, it looked like stars. There were pale pink rose petals sprinkled on the floor, and pillar candles were scattered throughout the room, letting off both light and warmth. Hermione could hear music in the background, it sounded familiar....  
  
"I was wondering if I could have this dance?" Harry said, holding out his hand.  
  
Hermione didn't say anything, she instead just took his hand, he placed his hands around her waist, tightly. She rested her arms around his neck, and then she finally recognized the song. It was the one they had danced to at the Halloween dance......  
  
[I] There's something about the way you look tonight.....[/I]  
  
They continued dancing, Hermione had butterflies dancing throughout her stomach, she had never felt like this before. When the song ended, Harry gently pulled away slightly, lifted her chin with his hand and looked deep into her eyes.  
  
"Hermione, I have to tell you something....."  
  
"Harry, I know." She said looking back at him. Somehow Hermione knew what Harry was trying to tell her, it was the same thing she had been trying to tell him for the past year.  
  
It was then that the clock was heard stricking midnight from the main north tower of the school. As the twelfth chime struck, Harry pulled Hermione close to him.....  
  
"Happy New Year." He whispered softly, while leaning closer to her. Their lips met in a kiss that was neither overbearing yet simple, it was gentle yet passionate, truly intoxicating.  
  
When they finally pulled apart, Hermione was smiling at Harry, he returned the same smile.  
  
"Harry James Potter, you really can be dumb sometimes."  
  
"Yeah, well I finally got it right didn't I?"  
  
"You got it more then right...." Hermione smiled at him and then kissed him again gently on the lips.  
  
"Yeah well, I guess paying attention in charms finally payed off." Harry said indicating that he had conjured up everything in the room.  
  
"Didn't I always tell you that it might come in handy one day?" Hermione said playfully.  
  
They spent the rest of the night there in the tower talking. They decided to go down to the lake and watch the sunrise together, they were surprised that Ron and Julia were already there, Julia sitting in Ron's arms.  
  
Harry smiled to himself "So I guess she took my advice."  
  
"Oh, and what advice would that be?"  
  
"Advice that she should give it a go with Ron, they really do make a cute couple don't they?"  
  
"Yeah, well I'm just glad that you finally listened to your own advice," Hermione said jokingly.  
  
Harry and Hermione joined Ron and Julia and they all watched the sunrise over the lake together, it was something truly serene and beautiful, a natural beauty that Harry had been taking for granted lately.  
  
  
  
Chapter Thirty Four: Classes Begin Again  
  
The rest of the Christmas holiday break passed by quickly, Harry was still floating in the clouds, as was Hermione. Julia and Ron were getting along fine, everything seemed to be perfect.  
  
"Well I guess we better get off to our first class, ugh." Ron said in a very whiny voice.  
  
"Ron, you could at least sound a little excited" Harry said sarcastically.  
  
"Oh would you two please stop it? Geeze you would think you were both eleven." Hermione said irritated.  
  
"We are," Harry and Ron both said in unison. Then they burst out laughing.  
  
"Boys," muttered Julia.  
  
"Yeah, I guess they're never going to grow up." Hermione sighed.  
  
Julia kissed Ron on his cheek and headed off to Defense Against the Dark Arts, Hermione followed her, she gave Harry kind of a half hug before leaving.  
  
"Well, I guess we better follow them," Harry sighed.  
  
"Yeah I guess they are right, we do need to get back to our classes. Too bad Lupin won't be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts anymore, I'm really dreading Professor Malfoy returning" Ron said.  
  
Harry had completely forgotten about Malfoy coming back, in fact come to think of it he hadn't had a run in with Draco Malfoy all year, and he hadn't seen him lately, "Yeah, say Ron, what do you think happened to Malfoy junior?"  
  
"You mean that dumb miniature sized git that is related to the overly large dumb git?"  
  
Harry chuckled "Yeah, I think the last time I remember seeing him was right before I stole the Snitch out from under him."  
  
"Yeah, that was sweet....oh yeah, when does Quidditch start again?"  
  
"February I think, after the snow melts."  
  
"Whoa, we're gonna be late, we better get going."  
  
Harry and Ron headed to the classroom, they made it at the last minute, luckily their chairs had been saved by Hermione and Julia.  
  
"Thanks Herm."  
  
"Well if you don't get here eairler next time, I might just have to accidently not save you a place."  
  
Harry could detect a hint of annoyance in Hermione's voice.  
  
"I'm sorry.."  
  
Harry couldn't finish his sentence, because Professor Dumbledor had entered the classroom, everyone was startled.  
  
Dumbledor cleared his throat and then began speaking. "A small situation has presented itself and I'm afraid that Professor Malfoy will not be returning for the remainder of the school year. We have made arrangements for Professor Lupin to continue teaching you, he has fallen ill however and will be back in a couple of days. In the meantime you are to spend the next two days researching Aurors contributions to the effort in defense from dark magic. Professor Lupin has asked that it be two full sheets of parchment. Now if you will excuse me, I need to speak to Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Ms. Granger and Ms. Evans, the rest of you are excused to the library."  
  
Harry looked at Julia and Ron, Hermione tapped him lightly on the shoulder "I wonder what happened?" she whispered. Once the other students had cleared the classroom, Dumbledor came over to them, sat down and began to speak.  
  
"I am revealing this information to all WIA class members, what I'm about to tell you is not to leave this classroom, is that clear?"  
  
The four students nodded their heads.  
  
"Alright, Professor Malfoy came back to our side so to speak about 15 years ago. Since then he has denied any allegance to his former dark master. I believed he was genuine and when he was the only one who step up for the Dark Arts job I really had no other choice. Since then however his loyalty has come into question, it seems that he has not taught any of the appropriate material to any of the years and no one is adequately prepared to deal with dark magic. Then December came and he suddenly had to leave, I assumed it was a personal family matter and I chose not to intervene. Since then however Professor Malfoy has disappeared with his wife and his son. No one knows where they are, but we can only assume the worse, that they have gone to rejoin none other then Voldemort himself."  
  
Harry let a small gasp out, he always knew Draco was evil, but he never though he would just disappear, it didn't seem like him. Come to think of it this year had been very strange, Draco usually harassed Harry and Ron along with Hermione on a daily basis, but this year strangley he left them all alone, even Julia.  
  
"This is a very serious matter, the four of you plus the three others have been excused from the rest of your classes to work exclusively on this matter. We need to know where the Malfoy's fled to and we need to know if there is a secret attack plan being made at the hands of Voldemort."  
  
"But Professor Sir....we haven't even started training yet and we also have to prepare for our OWL's" Hermione looked very concerned.  
  
"Yes Ms. Granger, I have met with the other teachers and we agreed that it would be best to exempt you from taking the O.W.L exams so that you can devote your time to your WIA training and help the ministry track the Malfoy's down. This is a very urgent situation and we need every resource we have, otherwise the world itself may be in danger."  
  
The four students were looking very grim now, Ron was staring at the floor.  
  
"You may return to your common rooms now, you are excused for the rest of the day so please rest and relax, training will begin at 8:00 sharp in the WIA room tomorrow morning." Dumbldor then stood up and glided across the floor to the door where he headed back up to his office.  
  
"Wow, I knew the Malfoy's were bad, but I never dreamed we'd have to be the ones to track them down." Ron muttered under his breath.  
  
"I think we should take Dumbledor's suggestion and just relax today, we are going to need everything we've got when we begin tomorrow." Julia said.  
  
Ron and Julia headed up to the Gryfindor common room. Harry was still looking at the floor.  
  
"Harry is everything ok?" Hermione was now concerned.  
  
"Yeah, I just kept thinking about that dream, my parents had to hide Julia to protect her from Voldemort, what if Draco is in danger and his parents are doing the same thing?"  
  
"That's why we have to find them Harry, we need to know why they ran." Hermione said gently. "Everything's going to be fine Harry."  
  
Harry smiled weakly at her, "Thanks."  
  
Hermione hugged Harry, they sat just sat there holding each other for a long time, in fact they were still there, just sitting in each others arms when they heard the bell for the second class ring.  
  
"I guess we better go, the next class is going to be coming in." Harry said.  
  
He took Hermione's hand and they walked back to the Gryffindor common room together. Harry was still preoccupied, but not because of the dreams about his mother and Julia, this time it was because of another dream, one he had last night, one that really frightend him.  
  
[I] Harry was standing with deatheaters surronding him, then he heard a voice. "Harry, help me..." It was Draco, he was being held captive by another group of death eaters. But Harry for some reason couldn't hear Draco's cries for help, he instead turned and saw Lord Voldemort.  
  
"Kill her boy, she is the only thing between us and the greatest power in the world."  
  
Harry looked over, and saw Hermione struggling with the Death Eaters, she was screaming something but he didn't know what.  
  
"Go boy, kill her now!!!!"  
  
Harry turned, looked at Voldemort, a face that used to scare him, but now was the source of comfort and great power.  
  
Harry's eyes narrowed and glowed green, "Yes Master, anything for you....." Harry then raised his wand and cried out "Avra Kadavra."  
  
The curse hit Hermione and she went limp, then Harry woke up..[/I]  
  
Chapter Thirty Five: Confessions  
  
Harry had spent the rest of the evening trying to forget about his disturbing dream. In fact it wasn't disturbing, he was down right terrified, he had decided to tell Dumbledor about the dream first thing in the morning, he was terrified of putting Hermione in danger....he couldn't do that to someone he loved so much..........  
  
[I] Wait a minute, did I just say that? Did I just say that I LOVE her?[/I] Harry looked over at Hermione who was curled up in a chair peacefully reading her book. Suddenly he decided that he had to tell her everything..he had to tell her about the dream and about, well he didn't really know what else at the moment.  
  
"Hey Herm....could you come to the owlery with me to get Hedwig, I need to send this." Harry quickly folded a blank piece of parchment, he wasn't really sending anything he just needed to get Hermione out of the common room without Ron and Julia becoming suspicious.  
  
Hermione looked up at Harry, confused. Harry narrowed his eyes at her and gave her the look that she knew meant it was important. "Alright, just a sec." Hermione went to go put her book away and then came back down to leave with Harry.  
  
Once out of the common room they headed down the hall, Harry led Hermione back towards the North East Tower.  
  
"Harry, the owlery is back the other way, where are we really going?"  
  
"Back to the abandoned tower, it's really important Herm, I need to tell you a lot."  
  
Hermione now looked concerned, and the rest of the walk was spent in silence. They arrived to the abandoned room, which was now dark and empty. Harry took out his wand and materialized a comfortable couch and also conjured up some candles for heat as well as light. Hermione sat down on the couch with him and he told her everything. He told her all about Draco asking for Harry's help, which leads Harry to believe that the Malfoys are in hiding from Voldemort and not to rejoin him. He told her about seeing her screaming for help and not being able to hear her, and then finally about the death spell he had cast on her.  
  
Hermione was beginning to cry, but kept a strong face on. "Harry, it's just a dream, I'm sure everything is going to be ok, you just need to make sure you talk to Dumbledor tomorrow morning."  
  
Harry smiled weakly, "Thanks for listening and understanding Herm, I thought you were going to be scared of being around me."  
  
"Harry! I would never do such a thing to someone who's been my best friend for five years! I wouldn't do that to someone that I....." Hermione began to trail off, not finishing her sentence.  
  
"Someone that you what?"  
  
"Nevermind." She whispered, "I'm sure everything is going to be fine, ok?"  
  
Harry nodded.  
  
"Alright then, we better get going, it's getting late."  
  
Hermione headed for the door. Harry sat there silently [I] HARRY! Why don't you just tell her!! You love her don't you? Just tell her!!!!!! She almost said something about me....[/I]  
  
"Hermione wait!" Harry sounded almost desperate. Hermione turned as her hand was on the door, and looked back at him.  
  
Harry started getting cold feet again, but he finally made up his mind, he walked over to Hermione, wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her passionately. He gently pulled away, just slightly, and then he whispered "I love you Hermione Granger" into her ear. Hermione just stood there for a moment, Harry was nervous that he had said something too serious too soon in their relationship. Hermione then however kissed Harry gently on the lips, and then while she was still within inches of his face she looked into his eyes and said "I love you too, Harry Potter."  
  
Harry didn't even remember what happened next, he was floating a million miles above the earth. They silently walked back to the Gryffindor common room together, when they arrived they realized that everyone else had gone to bed. Harry stopped in front of the steps to the girl's dorms.  
  
"Goodnight Herm, thanks for listening to everything."  
  
"It was my pleasure Harry." She smiled sweetly at him.  
  
"Well, goodnight then." Harry kissed her gently on her lips and then began to head for the boys dorms.  
  
"What kind of goodnight kiss was that?" Hermione said half playfully half seriously, she then pulled Harry back towards her.  
  
Harry narrowed his eyes playfully looking into hers, he took her face in his hands, pulled her face towards him and kissed her softly, but it was something that neither of them wanted to end. Harry finally pulled away, "You better get to bed."  
  
"Goodnight Harry," and Hermione then turned and headed up to her room. Harry stood in the common room for a few minutes, still floating from the last kiss that was still lingering on his lips.  
  
Chapter Thirty Six: Questions and Answers  
  
Harry awoke early the next morning, he wanted to head down to talk to Dumbledor before the other six WIA members arrived. He entered the classroom and saw that Dumbledor was already there sitting behind the desk, almost looking as if he was expecting Harry.  
  
"Harry, I trust you have come to ask me about your dream?" Dumbledor was smiling mysteriously.  
  
"Uh..yes sir, but um....sir how did..."  
  
"Ah, but remember young Harry, I know of everything that goes on amongst these castle walls." Dumbledor politely responded.  
  
Harry at once remembered how Dumbledor had told him before Halloween that he knew of a friendship that would become something more...and he had been right.  
  
"Your father had a similar dream Harry, in fact it was very similar. His dream consisted of Voldemort capturing and killing your mother, Lily, while James just sat there and watched helplessly."  
  
Harry was silent, looking at the ground.  
  
"But Harry, your father's dreams didn't come true, and neither shall yours with the proper training and preparation."  
  
"But sir, the last dreams I had were about my mother taking Julia away, and those ended up to be true."  
  
"Yes Harry, but the trick with Dark Magic is finding a person's vulnerability and then acting upon it to make them question themselves. With Voldemort's powers now increasing it may be possible that he is sending you these images to disturb you, to throw you off guard. This is what Voldemort has always thrived on, the threat of losing love. When you let Voldemort successfully disturb you in this way you are allowing him to gain that much more power. Remember Harry, he thrives on dispair and pain, he would want nothing more for you to renounce your love in order to protect her."  
  
"So Voldemort sent me that dream to try to get me scared into breaking up with Hermione?"  
  
"Yes, but he didn't succeed at all did he Harry?" Dumbledor's eyes were now twinkling.  
  
"Well, no I guess that first dream didn't make me do it, but what if the dreams keep getting worse, then what?"  
  
"Harry, voldemort actually failed miserably with his last dream, his intent was for you to break things off with your love, but instead that dream made you realize how much you care for Hermione, how much you are in love with her, as a result of his dream you professed your love to the girl who owns your heart, your strength was increased while Voldemort's was decreased."  
  
Harry was now turning red.he knew that Dumbledor knew everything about last night.  
  
As if reading his mind Dumbledor spoke "Ah, Harry I do know everything that goes on in these walls, but alas I do leave some of it to my imagination, after all some privacy is in order for the many young at heart."  
  
Harry felt a surge of relief rush over him, Dumbledor hadn't seen Harry kiss Hermione, and he hadn't spied on them in the common room.  
  
"Now you best be taking your seat Mr. Potter, class will begin shortly."  
  
Harry sat in his normal seat, Ron, Julia and Hermione soon showed up, finally Claudia and Nick entered the room, Dylan was close behind carrying a few history books.  
  
They each began working on their special talents for the WIA group today. Hermione was busy transfiguring anything Dumbledor could manage to find. Ron spent the day reviewing the book entitled [I] basic widzards codes grade 1 [/I] Ron's job was to solve these logic puzzles to fine tune his logic skills. Dylan absorbed himself into the history of dark magic in the 19th century. Claudia concentrated on her tarot cards and tea leaf readings. Nick meanwhile was boiling some new concotion in his cauldron on the other side of the room. Julia and Harry spent a brief part of the morning working on their charms and dark arts areas, but then Dumbledor came and sent them to an abonded classroom to work on fine tuning the mind abilities of Harry and Julia.  
  
By the end of the day everyone was exhausted and happy to be returning to their common rooms. Harry was finally beginning to feel better about his disturbing dream. He had remembered that Voldemort's curse backfired because Harry's mother had transferred her [I] love [/I] while dying to protect him. And now Harry was going to use his love for Hermione to protect her at all costs.  
  
Chapter Thirty Seven: A new lead.  
  
A week had passed since the task of finding the Malfoy's had been given to the seven young Hogwarts students. WIA training had been intense, Harry was finally beginning to unlock some of his mind abilites, he could even communicate with Julia a little through the use of his mind. The seven chosen students were all advancing remarkably and Dumbledor was very impressed.  
  
Nick had made several new potions that counter acted many of ailments that might be encountered when facing a dark wizard. Nick was now working on a potion that could be taken to counter act the effects of some of the most devastating dark curses.  
  
Dylan had been helping Nick by sifting through many books about ancient magic, reading about the different herbs used in their brews to treat many bizarre injuries.  
  
Hermione had the art of transfiguration down to an art. She could transform anything into anything else she could possibly need or want. Dumbledor had promised that Hermione would be given a new and challenging task within the next few days.  
  
Ron had already cracked all of the logic codes in both the levels 1 and 2 books and was now working on his level 3 code book.  
  
Julia had been working madly on her charms, conjuring up anything that the group might need, and of course a few items that were just for fun (like the chocolate frogs at lunch time). Julia however was becoming frusterated with her mind excersies. Dumbledor had said that she should be able to use her mind to communicate with Harry. So far, Harry was doing very well with learning how to use his mind, but all Julia could get is feelings. She could for example feel Harry's mind and know that he was happy or sad, but she couldn't hear him communicate with her, nor was she very good at communicating back with Harry. Dumbledor refused to let her give up, but Julia was starting to get burned out from all of the training.  
  
Meanwhile amongst all of the hustle and bustle. Claudia usually found a quiet corner to consult her zodiac charts, tea leaves and her trusty crystal ball. Hermione was conviced that the WIA could survive with six and that Claudia was only there to be a wall decoration. But suddenly, one day almost a week and a half into the intense training Claudia stumbled across something.  
  
"Hey umm guys, I think you should come over here, please, right now." Claudia sounded distracted and nervous.  
  
The students gathered around her, and she began to speak as she gazed into the crystal ball. "Draco Malfoy is running through the forest, he is alone......wait a minute, there he is, he's in a viallge."  
  
Harry peered over her shoulder, the village looked like the one he had visited with Ron and Hermione over the summer in Madrid.  
  
"Oh no..he's been taken captive, locked up. Oh no.....no it can't be...." Claudia was now sweating nervously. The other six students leaned in curiously, Hermione was beginning to get impatient.  
  
"What is Claudia? What do you see?" Nick asked gently.  
  
Harry's scar suddenly started burning..... "Ow!"  
  
"Harry, are you ok?" Hermione asked concerned.  
  
"Yeah...it's just my scar.."  
  
"LOOK, Harry is that.....is that..... "you know who" ?" Claudia was being to sweat nervously, she looked very scared.  
  
Harry peered into the crystal ball, he saw a large black figure standing over a very scared Draco Malfoy. The figure was raising his wand, Draco continued to crouch down in fear. Harry's scar was continuing to burn..and it was getting more painful by the minute. Harry looked over at Dumbledor, helplessly.  
  
Dumbledor replied in his calm soothing voice: " I believe what you are seeing in the crystal ball is showing an event that shall take place very soon, but has not yet taken place. Harry, you know what to do, you just need to believe in yourself."  
  
Harry stood there puzzled, [I] How do I know what to do? I'm just as confused as everyone else.[/I]  
  
"Harry! Look at that store, that's the back of the bookstore we were in over the summer in Madrid!" Hermione exclaimed.  
  
Harry and Ron took a closer look, "Yeah it does look familiar." Harry replied.  
  
Julia walked up behind Harry and Ron, "That's because it is Madrid, they've taken Draco to Tinturn Alley, and from the looks of it, this happens in March, look at the calendar." Julia pointed to the right edge of the crystal ball image, it was blurred but Harry could just barely make out the calendar on the wall, and sure enough it showed it being the month of March.  
  
Harry finally felt like he knew what to do, something inside of him, his instinct told him to take charge of the situation. Harry had a strange feeling that his father was guiding him, and telling him what to do.  
  
"Ok, we have a little more then a month then to get to Madrid and hold off Vodlemort."  
  
Claudia flinched at the mention of Voldemort's name.  
  
"That means I need you Dylan, to pull up anything you can find on Tinturn Alley, we are looking for anything significant that happened there, or clues as to why Voldemort has chosen that town."  
  
Dylan nodded slowly.  
  
"Claudia, we need you to keep an eye on the crystal ball, if possible we need to know where the Malfoy's are before March, and we also need to find out if Draco's parents are with him in Madrid when this all happens."  
  
Claudia headed back to her ball gazing duties.  
  
"Nick, I want you to keep working on those potions of yours, try perfecting that strength potion that you started, we are really going to need that if we are going to face a stronger Voldemort."  
  
"Ron, I want you to go work with Dylan, something tells me that Voldemort picked Tinturn Alley for a reason, there's got to be a puzzle behind all of this, help him to find clues as to why Draco has been, or rather will be taken there."  
  
Ron headed off to help Dylan.  
  
This left Harry with Hermione and Julia. Harry already knew what he needed Hermione to do, but he didn't know if Dumbledor would approve. Dumbledor was still sitting in the back of the classroom watching all of the action unfold. He looked very amused.  
  
"Alright, Julia...we are going to need you to figure out how for us to get there, unseen of course. We are going to need you to bewitch something that can travel fast but at the same time be invisible."  
  
Julia smiled at Harry, and then headed off to consult her many large books.  
  
Harry turned at looked at Hermione. He walked closer to her so that he could speak quietly to her. "Herm, we are going to need a way to get into that village and see what is going on without actually being seen. Do you think you could become an Animagus? That's going to be our best chance of getting into Tinturn Ally without being spotted by any of the dark wizards, or worse, Voldemort himself."  
  
"But Harry, we've got just a little over a month! And besides, it takes at least six months, usually more to get approval from the ministry!"  
  
"Hermione...the ministry doesn't need to know, Sirus is unregistered remember? Besides this needs to be done in secret or else Voldemort will find out and we might as well just go walking in there with flashing lights wrapped around our heads."  
  
Dumbledor meanwhile was enjoying watching Harry and Hermione argue over the animagus issue. He finally decided to interject his opinion into the conversation: "Ms. Granger, I do believe that Mr. Potter's idea is the only way for us to gain the valuable information we need to save Draco from Voldemort. The ministry need not know about this, and it shouldn't take you very long to figure it out..after all you do have one of the most natural abilities of anyone here at Hogwarts."  
  
Hermione was now blushing at Professor Dumbledor's comment. She finally nodded in agreement and set off to work by herself.  
  
Harry meanwhile had decided that he needed to be prepared to take on Voldemort, which meant he needed to prepare himself for anything. Harry decided to continue working on his mind abilities, he was going to need to be the strongest of the group by the time they confronted the dark lord.  
  
Chapter Thirty Eight: Valentines Day  
  
The next few weeks were spent frantically trying to gather any information at all about the whereabouts of the Malfoy's, Voldemort, or any other wizards that might have information on the foretold event to occur in Tinturn Alley sometime in March.  
  
Harry was making remarkable progress, he could now move things at will with his mind. He was also beginning to cast basic spells using only his mind..Dumbledor was confidant that with a few more weeks of training Harry wouldn't even need his wand.  
  
Hermione meanwhile had been working night and day to become an animagus. She was getting frusterated that it was taking her so long...Hermione was not used to having so many failed attempts.  
  
Julia had decided to work with Nick to try to create something that the group could use to travel undetected. Together they had created what Julia liked to call "Invisible Powder." If you sprinkle the powder on any object it immediately becomes invisible. The only way to undo the invisibility is to use the charm [I]Apeario Pronto[/I]. Harry was amazed by this innovation, his once prized invisibility cloak was just a toy compared to this amazing powder.  
  
Ron and Dylan meanwhile had been locked up in the Library trying to figure out any clues about Tinturn Alley. It was a slow and tedious task, one that they hadn't made much progress in.  
  
Claudia meanwhile kept her eyes on the crystal ball and worked night and day to decode star charts for the upcoming months. The rest of the WIA members (except Hermione of course) were worried that the charts became darker and contained more warnings as they approached March.  
  
January quickly came to an end as the dreaded event in March continued to approach. Harry had decided that the WIA needed to take a break, and so on Valentines day Harry and Ron, along with Julia and Hermione went to go see Hagrid.  
  
Hagrid was ecstatic when they came to the house.  
  
"I though't you guys had forgot all bout me!" He hugged all four of them tightly, Ron was struggling to escape his embrace.  
  
"Hagrid...can't.....ehhh....breath!" Ron exclaimed.  
  
Hagrid let go and they made themselves at home in Hagrids cozy living room. Fang took up whatever floor space was left. Hagrid quickly appeared with rock cakes for everyone. Harry, Ron and Hermione took them politely, but they knew better then to eat them.  
  
Julia on the other hand wasn't so lucky, she took a large bite into one and suddenly found out that Hagrid's cooking was almost as bad as Madame Pomfrey's cold potion.  
  
They spent the afternoon talking and updating Hagrid on everything that had been going on. Hagrid already knew about their WIA involvment because they had to be excused from his class. They didn't tell Hagrid however about the leads they had come across, and how they were preparing for March. They simply just told him that they were still training very hard.  
  
"Hey guys, it's getting dark, we should probably be getting back." Julia pointed out.  
  
"Yeah, I guess we should." Ron said quickly, getting the hint.  
  
The four friends bid Hagrid goodbye and then made there way back to the castle. Ron and Julia walked together ahead of Harry and Hermione. Ron decided however to head for the lake instead of the castle.  
  
"Ron, were are you going?" Julia asked.  
  
"Just come over here, you know, so we can leave those two alone." Ron said grinning mysteriously while making reference to Harry and Hermione.  
  
"Oh ok, I get it" Julia smiled and then followed Ron.  
  
Meanwhile Hermione had noticed that Julia and Ron were heading to the lake. "Harry, why are they heading over there?"  
  
"Hum, Ron probably wants some 'alone' time with my sis." He said jokingly.  
  
Harry and Hermione giggled.  
  
"Well then why don't we have some 'alone' time and go back to the tower?"  
  
"Alright, you're the boss." Harry said, letting Hermione lead the way.  
  
Julia and Ron arrived at the lake, Julia conjured a picnic blanket and they both sat down beside each other.  
  
"Listen Julia, I don't know, well actually I know I've never told you this, but you're the first girl I've really had feelings for, and I care about you a lot, and I just wanted you to know that I guess." Ron was beginning to blush.  
  
Julia looked at Ron and smiled, "wow, I don't really know what to say" she said softly.  
  
"Well, you don't have to say anything at all." Ron replied.  
  
Ron put his arms around Julia and hugged her gently. Then Julia did something completely unexpected. she kissed Ron, not just a little kiss on the cheek, a real kiss. Ron was exploding on the inside, butterflies were dancing around his stomache. Julia was blushing furiously by the time they pulled away, Ron was perfectly content. He knew that Julia was something more then just his girlfriend.  
  
"Happy Valentine's Day" Ron whispered softly in Julia's ear.  
  
They spent the rest of the night at the lake, under the moonlight.  
  
Harry and Hermione meanwhile had made their way back up to the abandoned north east tower. This time when they entered, Hermione had already decorated the room with a picnic blanket, a basket full of different types of wizards candy and butterbeer.  
  
"Wow" Harry said under his breath.  
  
"Happy Valentines Day" Hermione smiled proudly.  
  
They sat down together on the blanket and had some chocolate frogs and Butterbeer. They discussed quiddtich (Hermione wasn't really into it, but she pretended to be since it was Valentines day) they laughed at many different things..........  
  
"Oh my gosh!! I almost forgot!" Harry exclaimed. Harry reached into his robes and pulled out a small box.  
  
"Happy Valentines Day Herm." He said giving the box to her.  
  
She opened it up, inside was a beautiful silver braclet, it had a single silver heart charm on it which was engraved with the words [I] With love, From Harry [/I]  
  
"Harry I love it, it's beautiful!" She hugged Harry and then pulled out a present of her own.  
  
"Herm you didn't have to get me anything, this all here was enough."  
  
"Well, it's valentines day, and you're my valentine so I got you something, it really wasn't a big deal."  
  
Harry opened the box, inside was a small golden key with an inscription that said [I] With all my love ~Herm~[/I]  
  
"Wow"  
  
"It's just a little something I found in Diagon Alley, strangest thing though, the woman in the store told me that the key was more then just a key, and that she knew I was going to come in and buy it." Hermione shrugged her shoulders.  
  
"That's strange" Harry said drifiting off in thought. He took the chain that held the ring Hermione had given him for Christmas, and placed the key on the same chain. He then tucked the charms back into his robes.  
  
Harry and Hermione spent the rest of the night looking at the stars and drinking butterbeer. For those few hours everything seemed to be perfect, Harry felt as if nothing in the world could go wrong, unfourtunatly he was wrong.  
  
Chapter Thirty Nine: Another Dream  
  
When Harry finally made it back to his room at the end of the night, he was so exhausted that he didn't even change out of his robes before getting into his large four poster bed and going to sleep. All too soon though Harry's slumber was interrupted by yet another dream......  
  
[I] Harry was standing in a dark, damp room. He knew this place seemed familiar, something he had seen before........  
  
And then he saw it, Lord Voldemort entered.  
  
"Ah, so I see you have come at last Potter" Voldmorts voice was chilling to the bone.  
  
Harry began to back away.  
  
"Don't back away boy, you know you want it......You know you want to join me. I can offer you the greatest power in the whole world, I can offer you the power to bring back something that you miss so dearly."  
  
Harry's attention then turned to the image being displayed on the wall. It was a smiling picture of his parents, they looked so peaceful, so happy.....  
  
"You want them back don't you boy?!"  
  
Harry didn't respond.  
  
"Join me now, together we will rule the world, muggle and wizard alike, I am the greatest power in the world, you can NOT refuse me!!! I AM LORD VOLDEMORT!!!!!!!!!!" [/I]  
  
Harry awoke with a start, he was sweating from head to toe.  
  
He got up to get a glass of water but was shocked to see a tall figure in black robes standing at the door.......................  
  
Chapter Forty: Gryffindor verses Ravenclaw.  
  
"Harry, we better get going, the game starts in an hour!"  
  
Harry was still disoriented and groggy from his latest dream. He put his glasses on to realize that the figure in the black robes was Ron.  
  
"C'mon, let's go!"  
  
Harry tried to shake himself awake while putting his latest dream behind him.  
  
[I] Harry this is silly, you actually thought the person standing at the door was Voldemort, it was just Ron, everything is fine......[/I]  
  
Harry and Ron ate a quick breakfast before heading down to the Gryffindor locker rooms.  
  
The rest of the Gryffindor team was already there when Harry and Ron arrived. They quickly changed into their scarlet quiddtich robes, and grabbed their brooms to gather around Alica Spinnet for their pre game pep talk.  
  
"Alright guys, this is going to be a tough match but we can do it!!! Ravenclaw lost to Slytherine, but they beat Hufflepuff by a landslide. Now we all know that Hufflepuff is never a threat but we beat Slytherine, so if Slytherine can beat Ravenclaw then so can we!"  
  
Harry noticed that Alica was getting a little overexcited about the upcoming match.  
  
"We have all of the right moves both offensively and defensivly, it's going to be up to Harry to catch the snitch quickly, remember Cho Chang is a very good seeker, she is going to be tough, but I know you can do it Harry."  
  
Harry suddenly had this very weird feeling run through him. He hadn't spoken to Cho since towards the end of his fourth year. It was going to be weird to see her again....[I] Harry what are you doing? Why are you thinking about Cho. Hermione is your girlfriend, Remember?[/I]  
  
"Harry, is everything ok?" Angelina Johnson asked.  
  
"Oh yeah, everythings great, let's go get em!" Harry pushed the thoughts of Cho out of his mind, he was going to concentrate specifically on winning today's match.  
  
Lee Jordan was once again at the microphone providing the commentary for today's game.  
  
"And here they come, the big, the bag, the best team to ever set foot in Hogw....OUCH!!!!!!! Sorry professor. GRYFFINDOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
The crowd went wild (everyone except for the Slytherines and Ravenclaws of course.)  
  
"She's the best captain Gryffindor has seen in many years, she is the beautiful, the lovely...ok sorry professor.....Alicia Spinnet!"  
  
"Also playing chaser for Gryffindor the girl with the prettiest eyes in all of...(Yeah I know professor!) Angelina Johnson!"  
  
"And here comes my personal favorite, the cool, the funny, the completely insane...Kaite Bell!"  
  
"Next we have the two most ingenious fellows in Hogwarts....they have made their own line of prank toys.....they enjoy candlelight dinners and long walks on the beach...and both of them are single.....your Gryffindor beaters Fred and George Weasley!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
By this time Professor McGonagal had given up with disciplining Lee.  
  
"And now the younger brother of my two best friends...sorry ladies, this Weasly is taken..our very own Ron Weasly!!!!!!!"  
  
"And last, but defiantly not least....he's handsome, he's brave, he's kind, and....oh yeah, wait a minute...He's not a bachelor anymore!!!!!!!!! The best seeker in Gryffindor history..Harry Potter!"  
  
Madame Hooch blew the whistle and the game began. Harry immediately flew high over the playing field to get a birds eye view of the action.  
  
"Spinnet passes to Bell, Bell shoots......AND SCORES!!!!!!!!! 20-0 Gryffindor."  
  
Harry began looking around for the snitch. Suddenly his eyes laid on Cho Chang, she was riding her broom high above the Ravenclaw goalposts on the other end of the stadium. Harry quickly looked away and continued looking for the golden snitch. Harry was beginning to get nervous because the game was so close.  
  
"Ravenclaw takes the lead with that last shot, 60-40."  
  
[I]Alright Harry where is it?[/I] Then something occurred to Harry. [I] No, I couldn't do that..it would be cheating, I'd have an unfair advantage.[/I] Harry had thought about using his increased mind abilites to find the location of the golden snitch.  
  
Suddenly Harry saw something golden glimmer in the sun. He looked harder.....it was the snitch! It was hovering right below his broom. Harry knew from past experience though that the minute he went after it the snitch would move and find a new 'hiding' place.  
  
Harry didn't even think about his next move, he just stretched out with his mind, [I]Hold steady, just stay right there.[/I] Harry was using his mind to hold the snitch while his 'real' self flew down secretly. Harry reached the snitch, Cho still hadn't noticed yet. He stretched out his hand carefully and held the snitch in his had. He then held it up for the crowd to see, savering the moment of immense applause.  
  
"GRYFFINDOR WINS AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!" Lee Shouted.  
  
"They are just two more games away from bringing home the QUIDDTICH CUP AGAIN!!!!!!!"  
  
After the commotion down on the quidditch field had subsided Harry and Ron finally made it back to their dorm rooms. This time Harry was all too grateful to drift off into a peaceful dreamless sleep.  
  
Chapter Forty One: The Mission Begins  
  
The last week of February arrived much too soon. The WIA members had spent the last weeks in hurried preperation for their mission to Madrid.  
  
Claudia hadn't seen any more important information in her crystal ball, but her star chart predictions were very very dark, and were becoming increasingly disturbing.  
  
Harry had a feeling that his dreams is what the group should be working off of. Harry had this horrible feeling that Lord Voldemort was going to corrupt him, that he would be tempted to join forces with the dark wizard. Harry shuddered at the fact of hurting his friends by doing that, he especially didn't want to remember the dream where he had killed Hermione, if he did that, he would never be able to live with himself.  
  
The morning of departure arrived and the four WIA students met in Professor Dumbledor's office. Finally Dumbledor appeared in the office to give them some last minute instructions.  
  
"I have faith in the seven of you, you wouldn't have been selected for this task if you were not ready and capable of handling the obstacles that lie ahead. I suppose many of you are probably wondering why the ministry doesn't take care of this situation that we have been faced with, or why the ministry doesn't have members on the WIA. Well the fact of the matter is that Voldemort expects the ministry to go after him, he would never suspect a group of teenage wizards to be the force that goes against him. You seven also have very special talents, talents that most witches and wizards will never possess, you have only begun to tap into those talents and once your full abilities are reached you seven will be more powerful then all of the dark wizards combined."  
  
Harry listened carefully to what Dumbledor was telling them. He was still disturbed by his dreams.  
  
"The thing you all must remember though is that Dark Wizards find their power and strength from anger and hatred. This is a very fine line that you must walk, your power is great, but if you allow your power to be fueled by an anger and hatred for Lord Voldemort then he will win. Do not allow yourself to sink into the world of dark magic. Do not act of behalf of hatred, use your power to overcome evil in the name of goodness and then you will truly prevail to rid the world of this dark evil."  
  
The seven students sat silently listening to the great Dumbledor. Harry was now beginning to understand his dreams.  
  
[I] In those dreams Voldemort tried to fuel me with hatred, he tried to make be believe I could get my parents back. So as long as I remember that they will never be back, as long as I act against Voldemort with the power that protects goodness I should be fine....right?[/I]  
  
"Now Mr. Potter if you would please run over the plan for today one more time."  
  
Harry was brought back to "reality" so to speak. He stood up and looked at the other six students, all of whom looked very nervous.  
  
"Alright, well Julia has enchanted some very fast cars, I think the muggles call them [I] Porshes [/I], to fly us to Tinturn Alley. As you all know we will be using the Invisibilty Powder that Julia and Nick made so that we aren't seen during our travel to Tinturn Alley. Remember that the charm to undo the Invisibilty Powder is [I]apeario pronto [/I]. Once we arrive outside the town we will set up camp at a spot which Professor Dumbledor has already arranged. At that time we will go over the next phase of the mission."  
  
Harry sat down and waited for Dumbledor to finish speaking to the WIA members. Dumbledor finally dismissed the group, they left to head for their departure point. Harry made a point of walking with Hermione at a distance from the rest of the group.  
  
"Hey Herm, uh..well listen I don't want to sound pushy or anything but have you figured out the Animagus thing yet? Or do we need to come up with a new plan to snoop around when we get to Tinturn Alley?"  
  
Hermione stopped walking and looked at Harry. "No, I can do it Harry, I just didn't want to tell anyone or show anyone, cause well....you know, I don't need to be caught by the ministry before we get there, that could blow our cover."  
  
Harry nodded his head, he trusted Hermione more then anyone else, so he knew that she was going to be able to get into Tinturn Alley and collect information. Harry smiled at Hermione and put his hand around her waist as they continued to walk to the departure point.  
  
Once they arrived at the southern shore of the lake Julia raised her wand into the air "Apeario Pronto!" Four silver Porshe convertibles appeared, they were sleek, looked fast and best of all were enchanted to fly.  
  
"All right guys, here's our transportation, since each car seats two we had to have four, so someone is going to have to go by themselves." Julia looked around at the group to see if there were any volunteers.  
  
"I'll go by myself and lead the group there, since I flew the test flight there last week."  
  
Nick said. The other six members piled into their cars. Harry and Hermione went together, Ron and Julia went together and Claudia went with Dylan. Nick took the front car, ready to lead the group.  
  
"Alright, now a bag of invisible powder is found in the glove compartment in front of the passanger seat. The cars are on autopilot, they will follow mine which I will pilot. All you need to do is take a handful of the powder, toss it into the air and everything should get covered, You will still be able to see the inside of the car as well as the person sitting next to you, but you won't be able to see the other cars and no one will be able to see you." Nick then took a handful of powder and threw it in the air. He disappeared along with his car instantly.  
  
Hermione took the powder out of the glove compartment and threw it in the air. As she did, a strange tingling sensation came over her. "Harry, do you feel that?"  
  
"Yeah, I think it's normal." He assured her, "At least I hope it's normal."  
  
Within seconds the other two cars disappeared, the only thing Harry could see was the inside of his car and Hermione sitting next to him.  
  
"CAN YOU GUYS HEAR ME???" Nick called from the front car.  
  
A chorus of "YES!!!" was heard and Nick then instructed them to turn the cars on and push the autopilot button.  
  
Harry did as he was instructed and the car came to life. Within minutes the cars were off the ground and on their way to Madrid, on their way to come face to face with the strongest power of evil in the world.......  
  
Chapter Forty Two: Arrival  
  
The seven teenage wizards traveled for most of the night on their way to their secret location which would become their "camp" for the next several weeks. Even Harry didn't know the location of their camp. Dumbledor had felt it would be too dangerous to disclose the location while inside Hogwarts, Dumbledor feared that a traitor, or two, might be present inside the school. Dumbledor instead had apparated to the location (he had to do this outside of Hogwarts of course) and then set his phoenix Fawkes to meet them and lead the group to the secret location.  
  
After almost 6 hours of travel, Fawkes finally appeared, Nick steered his car to follow, and the other cars adjusted their course automatically to follow close behind. Within a matter of minutes they had arrived.  
  
The cars landed in a large clearing, surrounded by a dense green forest. The seven WIA members got out of their cars, however they did not perform the counter charm for invisibility just yet, they were waiting to find out if it was ok to reveal themselves to the world. Harry looked around for any sign of Dumbledor, there was nothing around. Harry even hoped that a ministry member would be there, but yet no one was there. [I] Geeze I'd almost be happy to see Rita Skeeter right about now.......[/I]  
  
But much to everyone's relief Professor Dumbledor suddenly appeared out of no where.  
  
"If you would all please make yourselves visible then we can get the headquarters for this operation set up."  
  
One by one each of the WIA members said the charm [I] Apeario Pronto [/I]. When the seven wizards had finally revealed themselves, Dumbledor continued.  
  
"Our location is very secret, we are essentially in the middle of no where, but the ministry still took every precaution and hid the headquarters from the visible wizard and muggle world alike."  
  
Dumbledor began walking to a tree towards the outer edge of the dense forest.  
  
"This tree here is slightly different from the others, it has a small W inscribed here on the underside of this branch....."  
  
The seven students took turns looking for the secret marking.  
  
"If you tap your wand once while saying [I] Abrir Secreto [/I] the entrance to the headquarters shall be revealed."  
  
Dumbledor took out his own wand, which Harry noted looked very old and worn, he tapped the mark once and said the magic phrase. The ground underneath the branch began to slowly disappear reveling a dark staircase.  
  
Dumbledor led the students down the stairs to the medieval wooden door that stood at the bottom.  
  
"The ministry was also concerned that if the passcode at the surface was broken, the security of the entire operation would be compromised. Therefore, this door, when opened, will lead into an endless underground maze of constantly shifting walls. Anyone who enters is almost certain never to find their way out."  
  
Dumbledor took this oppritunity to look at each and every member, the silence having a magnificent impact on the group.  
  
"If you tap the upper left hand stone and the centermost stone on the wall to the right here and say the words [I] Pade Barre [/I] the second entrance shall be revealed."  
  
Dumbledor demonstrated and then the wall shifted into the shape of a large steel door, it resembled the type of door used for dungeons back in the days of the magnificent kings.  
  
"The third protection put in place is that only members of the WIA, Cornilus Fudge, Professor McGonagal and myself can pass through this door. If anyone else tries to enter their bodies will burn upon contact with the door."  
  
Harry felt a surge of relief rush over him. He had been worried sick that the security of the headquarters was going to be hard to manage. But luckily Dumbeldor and Mr. Fudge, the minister of magic, had taken care of everything that might, and most likely could have gone wrong.  
  
Julia seemed to sense this relief in Harry, although her mind training abilities were still weak, she was able to establish a connection with Harry so that she could sense his feelings. Julia sent out a sense of reassurance to her brother.  
  
Harry felt this from Julia, and turned around a gave her a reassuring smile. He then turned to Hermione, and grabbed her hand to give her a loving and reassuring squeeze.  
  
Everyone seemed to be a little more at ease, knowing that they were going to be safe while they were finalizing their plans to take on Lord Voldemort, and find out how the Malfoys fit into the big picture.  
  
Harry, being the leader of the WIA stepped to the front of the group and reached out for the door to open it, as he stepped in the room he, along with the other six members, saw the most fantastic sight................  
  
Chapter Forty Three: Headquarters  
  
Harry stepped into a large, well lit room. The room was circular shaped, ten doors lined the edge of the room. In the main room sat a large red couch, it looked very squishy. A large fire was raging in the stone fireplace. There were various large pillows and sofa chairs distributed amongst the room, at the back of the room stood a large bookcase filled from top to bottom with many wizards books. The yellow and red in the carpet made the room seem bright and welcoming, the walls were decorated with pictures of wizards who waved, winked, smiled, and one even danced.  
  
The other six members seemed to be just as impressed with the room as Harry was.  
  
"This is where you will call home for the next few weeks. The seven red doors over there are your bedrooms, you can thank the ministry for your private rooms by the way."  
  
Dumbledor had a sense of humor in his voice.  
  
"The other three doors lead to common areas to be of great value to everyone in the group. The first common door leads to the kitchen and dining areas, you will be pleased to find that the food here is quite delicious. The second door leads to the potions area, there are enough supplies in there to last for ten years, you should be able to make every potion in the world about one hundred times. The last door is the most unique room of all. If you will all please follow me now." Dumbledor began leading the group towards the third room.  
  
When they entered the room, gasps shot through the air.  
  
"This is the command center for the WIA." Dumbledor said indicating the magnificent room. It was filled with many computers, a large view screen at the back center wall and lots of lights that could only be described as something from a muggle city known as Las Vegas.  
  
"Now, in the next few days you will all be learning how to function the equipment of the command center. In the meantime you may go take a look at your rooms, and I do believe that a fresh brew of Butterbeer has been made in the kitchen."  
  
The seven students were still enchanted by the amazing command center to really care about what Dumbledor was saying.  
  
"I have some other business to attend to so I must be on my way. I would like all of you to continue working on your training for the next few days, it will help you enormously."  
  
Dumbledor then left through the entrance door.  
  
The seven stunned students looked at each other, Ron finally broke the silence. "Well I dunno about you guys, but I'm going to go get settled in and then I'm going to go get me some of that Butterbeer."  
  
The other six agreed and headed for their rooms. They however were stopped once again in the main common room.  
  
"Uh, I hate to sound stupid guys, but how do we know which room is ours?" Julia was looking around the circular room, hoping someone would have an answer for her.  
  
Just then Harry spotted a piece of parchment laying on the coffee table. "Hey what's this?"  
  
He picked it up and unfolded it. Inside was a diagram of the room with names printed around the edge. "Um, I think that these names on this diagram correspond to the location of the doors. So that would mean that I'm in the middle room, number 4. Claudia is number 1, Nick is number 2, Hermione is number 3, Julia is number 5, Nick is number 6 and Dylan is in room 7."  
  
The others looked over Harry's shoulder at the diagram and agreed that they would try those rooms first.  
  
Sure enough when Harry opened the number 4 door all of his belongings were already there, waiting for him. "Well guys, all of my stuff is here, did everyone else get the right room?"  
  
A chorus of "Yes" was heard throughout the headquarters.  
  
Harry stepped into his room, a large bed was in the center. His trunk was settled neatly at the foot of the bed. A large wardrobe was across the room from the bed, the room was as brightly decorated as the main common room. Harry's room even had it's own small bathroom, a desk and a chair also was settled in the far corner of the room. Across from the desk, in the other corner was a door.  
  
The door caught Harry's attention immediately, he approached it, being cautious as to what might be behind it. He reached for the doorknob, but before he could get his hand on it the knob began to turn..........  
  
Chapter Forty Four: A secret talent.  
  
Harry jumped back as the door knob turned.  
  
"Hermione!" Harry was startled.  
  
"Oh, huh, hey I didn't know that this door went to your room, I got curious....sorry."  
  
"Oh it's ok, I was actually about to open it myself to see where it went, but now I guess we know."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Harry was now smiling at Hermione. He walked over to her and gave her a tight hug, she rested her head on his shoulder, for the first time in weeks she actually felt safe.  
  
"Hey Harry" Hermione said after a while.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I need to show you something."  
  
"Alright" Harry said as he sat down on his bed.  
  
Hermione stood there, concentrating. And before Harry knew it, Hermione had transformed herself into a beautiful bright red Phoenix.  
  
"Wow Herm...you did it...you actually became an Animagus!"  
  
The phoenix bird looked at Harry and then looked around the room, then the bird slowly turned back into Hermione.  
  
"Well yeah, that was the first animagus I perfected, but I figured that a phoenix would be an easy target, and we needed a spy, so I worked harder to become something else.  
  
Hermione then transformed into a small sparrow. Unlike the Phoenix, this sparrow was very small, brown and ordinary looking one.  
  
"That's perfect Herm!!"  
  
The sparrow soon turned back into Hermione. Harry was smiling at her proudly.  
  
"Herm, how did you do that? I mean we knew it was going to be hard for you to be an animagus, how did you possibly learn to become two completely different forms?"  
  
Hermione looked slyly at Harry. "Well, it ummm, well Dumbledor helped me and we found out that I have a special talent where I can become many different Animugus forms. These two forms were the ones I perfected. So when do we start the survelience?"  
  
Harry and Hermione spent the rest of the afternoon in Harry's room trying to finalize the mission plans. The final plan required that Hermione go into the village as a sparrow and find out if the Malfoys are in hiding here and if you know who is after them.  
  
The WIA mission work was exhausting. Hermione eventually fell asleep on Harry's bed. Harry kept working, but once midnight hit Harry was completely drained. He ended up falling asleep on his bed next to hermione.  
  
Harry drifted off into a dreamless sleep........well at least it was dreamless until a certain array of images began to enter Harry's dreams..............  
  
Chapter Forty Five: Future  
  
[I] Harry was in a house, a house he didn't recognize. A woman entered the room, she was beautiful.she had long silky brown hair, her robes hung nicely on her slim figure. She had her back turned, Harry couldn't see her face. Something about her was very familiar. Then suddenly the image shifted.....  
  
A sunny day, chairs had been set up, flower arrangements decorated the aisles. Harry saw himself standing towards the front by large pillar candles. The image shifted again......  
  
The woman from eairler in the dream was now standing next to Harry, she was wearing a beautiful white dress.........  
  
The next image he saw himself comforting the woman, who was upset. She was crying, as Harry looked closer he saw himself crying as well.......  
  
"I know it's hard, but hey, they were here with us, they were watching from up there." Harry pointed to the sky, still trying to comfort the woman.  
  
The woman managed to say something "I just wish they were here....they were our best friends....why, why did they have to sacrifice themselves?"  
  
"They did it so that we could be together, because we love each other, and that's all they wanted, Ron just wanted........[/I]  
  
"Harry, Harry, wake up, you're dreaming!" Hermione was tapping Harry, gently nudging him.  
  
Harry bolted awake. He looked around for a minute, when he finally gathered together what had just happened he sat up slowly. Hermione was looking at him, concerned.  
  
"Well, do you want to talk about it?"  
  
"Talk about what?" Harry said sleepily.  
  
"Your dream, it sounded like it was pretty disturbing, do you want to talk about it?"  
  
"Oh....uh.." Harry couldn't decide if he should tell Hermione about his dream.  
  
[I] It was just a dream Harry, nothing is going to happen...just a dream [/I]  
  
"Well, it's kinda silly now that I think about it." He said embarrassed.  
  
"Ok, well, I'm not going to make you. But if you want to talk about it, I'll listen."  
  
Harry sighed heavily, he could tell that Hermione knew he wanted to tell her. "Alright" he said slowly, "but you might want to get comfortable...it's kinda complicated."  
  
"Ok," she replied sweetly.  
  
"Well first I saw myself in this strange house, and then a woman came in, she had her back turned the whole time, but she had really long, silky brown hair. Then the dream flashed to a new place. Suddenly I was in this meadow, there were row of chairs set up, flower arrangements were at the end of each row. I was standing at the front where large pillar candles had been set up."  
  
"You mean like a wedding or something?"  
  
"Yeah, I think. Anyways the dream flashed again and then suddenly the same woman that was in the house was standing next to me, in a white dress."  
  
"So it was a wedding."  
  
"I guess. The last thing I saw though was the woman crying, and I was trying to comfort her. I was crying too....I guess. Anyways then I said something like 'they were still with us, watching from up there.' I pointed to the sky. Then the woman said something like 'I know, but they were our best friends I wish they were still here.' The last thing I remember is me saying something about how they wanted us to be together, I started to say something about Ron when you woke me up."  
  
Hermione sat on the bed, listening to Harry, completely silent.  
  
"Harry..." Hermione began quietly, "Do you think you saw us getting married? Do you think I was talking about Ron and Julia?"  
  
"I don't know Herm, I just don't know." Harry wrapped his arms around Hermione, he held her silently until they both fell asleep again....this time Harry's sleep was a dreamless one.  
  
Chapter Forty Six: Gathering Information  
  
The next few days passed by quickly. The seven WIA members were working busily to prepare their computer systems and map out their plans.  
  
Claudia had been working all night to try to find out more information. So far they still did not have a date of when the predicted event would take place. All they knew was they needed to find the Malfoys before Voldemort did.  
  
Harry still couldn't believe that he was running to help Draco Malfoy. He had given Harry and his friends so many problems over the past years.....[I]But you don't know if you're helping him remember...he might have failed Voldemort.....that could be why Voldemort was standing over him ready to kill him in Claudia's vision. You are here to protect the wizard world from Voldemort.[/I]  
  
Hermione had already visited the village three times, each time she had reported that everything seemed perfectly normal. Each time she made sure to visit the bookstore, she had even looked for hidden rooms or secret passages.....she had found none so far. The villagers were busy preparing for the upcoming spring festival. Hermione, along with the other six members just hoped that Voldemort wasn't planning a distarous destruction on the day of the spring festival.  
  
Ron meanwhile had been working and reworking the plans for entering the village once it became time to confront the dark lord. Ron's job was to find the least noticeable path into the viallage, they all had to be absoulty "invisible" as far as Voldemort was concerned, or else the entire operation could go wrong.  
  
Julia had decided to help Ron work the plans out...afterall Julia had visited Tinturn Alley every summer with her "mother" since she was very small. Julia surprisingly also remembered many secret passages into the city, many of these passages were even unknown to the villagers.  
  
Dylan was continuing researching the history of Tinturn Alley as well as the history of the orginal WIA, which Harry's father had been the head of. The WIA headquarters contained volumes upon volumes of books pertaining to Hogwarts and it's history, as well as books illustrating the rich and vivid history of Tinturn Alley.  
  
Nick had been assigned by Harry to help Dylan with his research. Nick's tasks of making potions were currently not needed. Nick had at first complained about his re-assignment, but then he decided that if he didn't help he may not live to be able to complain another day.  
  
On the morning of February 28 the seven found themselves working comfortably in the main common room area. Nick and Dylan were working in the corner towards the book shelves when they came across something.  
  
"Hey Claudia, did that calendar in the vision we saw by chance have the passed days crossed off?" Dylan asked.  
  
"Um, no it didn't, it just had the page flipped to March." Claudia replied while barely looking up from her crystal ball.  
  
Harry looked up from where he was working with Ron and Julia on going over the plans. "Why Dylan, did you find something?"  
  
Dylan looked nervousily around the room. He was still very intimidated by Harry, afterall he was the only one of them who had ever come face to face with the dark lord, and he was the only one who had ever survived to tell the story. "Well um, yeah it says in this book about Tinturn Alley that the spring time festival always begins on March 15th, the ides of march. On the first day they have a celebration remembering this great wizard who built the first real empire of the wizard world. He was killed and betrayed by his best friend, and his empire later crumbled in the hands of greed and corruption. Anyways it seems like a prime day for Voldemort to strike..losts of people, lots of security to fool, and of course tons of publicity when it's all done."  
  
Harry sat and thought about his for a little while. "Well Dylan I guess that is one of the best leads we've had so far. Hermione if you can keep an eye out in the town for any word on this "Ides of March" celebration or anything that might be happening that day, I would appercaite it.  
  
In the meanwhile I am going to go meditate in my room, see if my mind can pick anything up.  
  
Harry stood up and turned, heading for his room. Hermione noticed that he seemed so much older now that he was in charge of organizing the fight against Lord Voldemort.  
  
[I] Oh Harry I hope I'm right.....I hope those were just dreams....afterall no one has to get hurt, no one, not Ron, Julia yourself or even me. And no one will get hurt Hermione.....it was just a dream.......a dream that Harry had nonetheless, a dream that is going to stay that way..........[/I]  
  
Chapter Forty Seven: New discoveries.  
  
Four more days passed, the date was now March 10, the Ides of March was drawing closer, and with it came the dread and the fear of the seven WIA members...the fear of facing Voldemort.  
  
Harry was busy working on mind activities with Julia when Dylan and Ron came bursting into the main common room.  
  
"Harry, you have got to come see this!"  
  
Harry and Julia both hurridly got up from where they were working, and walked over to Dylan who seemed stressed and excited at the same time.  
  
"Ok so Ron and I were going through all of these old newspaper clippings, the ones about the orginal WIA and the rise of Voldemort. We found these articles from the [I] Daily Prophet [/I] that talk about two fifth year Hogwarts students, Lucios Malfoy and Tom Riddle. It says here that Malfoy and Riddle were best friends ever since their first year at Hogwarts, they were both even in the same house, Slytherine. But in the middle of their fifth year, Riddle betrayed Lucios. Lucios apparently had a crush on another fifth year student who happened to be in Gryfindor. Riddle, knowing that Lucios was interested in this girl, asked her to the Halloween dance, and then procedded to try and put an irreversible memory charm on the girls best friends. Riddle however was planning to frame Malfoy for performing the memory charms, so that he could win over this girl."  
  
Dylan was talking so fast it was hard for Harry to keep track of what was happening.  
  
"So who was this girl Dylan?" Harry asked, dreading the answer that he knew he was about to get.  
  
Ron looked at Harry with deep sympathy. "It was your mom Harry, Lucios and Lily apparently had kind of a thing for each other, until Riddle framed Malfoy for putting the memory charms on you dad and Sirus. Luckily the memory charm malfunctioned and they were able to be reversed. Malfoy found out what Riddle had tried to do to win Lily over and he was furious. Lily meanwhile was furious with both Malfoy and Riddle, she was convinced it was a cruel Slytherine prank that was being pulled on her and her friends. The rest is history, your mom fell in love with your dad, Lucios drowned in his jealousy, which is why you are hated by the Malfoy family so much. And well Riddle was devoured in his own rage and hatred to become Lord Voldemort."  
  
Harry sat there in deep thought for quiet some time.  
  
"Ok so let me get this straight...Lucious Malfoy was in love with my mom, Tom Riddle was jealous and wanted her for himself. He tried to frame Malfoy for harming her friends so that my mom would hate Lucious and fall in love with him. Instead the curses didn't work, my mother was furious with Riddle, never speaking to him again. She was also furious with Lucious meanwhile, even though it wasn't his fault. So for the rest of her fifth year and the remaining two years she didn't speak to either one of them. Riddle basically betrayed his best friend by trying to frame him for something terrible. So that means that Voldemort....once known as Tom Riddle, has taken the Malfoy family as revenge, revenge for having his chances with my mom ruined. This is where the Ides of March falls into play. Voldemort is planning on betraying his once best friend once again, but this time by taking his life. He is recreating what happened on the Ides of March thousands of years ago. Once he kills his best friend from school, nothing will be in his way, afterall he already took my mother...he is doing this so that he has absolute control."  
  
"Yeah, I think you basically got everything right." Dylan said quietly.  
  
"Harry! Didn't you say your mother died to save you?" Julia asked curiously.  
  
"Yeah, she did."  
  
"You defeated Voldemort because of that love your mother transferred to you, and that was the kind of love that Riddle had wanted, but could never have. It was that love that made him go crazy with deception, that's why that love killed him, the love he had for your, uh I mean our mom came back in the end and betrayed him by killing him." Julia was staring methodically at the floor.  
  
"That does make since." Harry replied.  
  
"Well then we've got to get going Harry, Voldemort could be anywhere, and we now know for sure that Voldemort has most likely taken the Malfoys, and is probably planning to kill them, out of revenge for what happened during his Hogwarts days" Julia said.  
  
Harry got up and went to find Hermione to tell her what he had just learned.  
  
Meanwhile Dylan and Ron went to review their latest research on Tinturn Alley and their spring time celebrations.  
  
Harry found Hermione as she was flying in the window of her dormitory. She turned back into her real self,  
  
"Harry, what are you doing here?"  
  
"I've got important news, sit down." Harry instructed.  
  
"No I think you better read this first." Hermione said while handing Harry a piece of parchment from inside the deep pockets of her robes.  
  
"But really Herm....I've got so much to tell you and brief you on." Harry protested.  
  
"You can tell me later...you really need to read that letter though." Hermione was getting impatient.  
  
Harry finally agreed, reluctantly of course. He opened the letter that was handed to him...what was printed on the letter made a cold chill travel up Harry's back. He couldn't believe what he was reading............  
  
Chapter Forty Eight: The Ides of March, Part One  
  
Scribbled on the piece of parchment were the words  
  
[I] 5 more days...5 more days till we have the greatest power in the world. Potter will join me, and if he doesn't his entire family as well as all of his friends will face the most horrible death possible. [/I]  
  
The note was signed with the dark mark. A mark that only a deatheater or Lord Voldemort himself would use.  
  
Hermione was obviously just as shaken by this note as Harry was. "I found it in the book store, it was crumbled in a corner......There is still no sign of the Malfoys or any dark wizards." Hermione was playing with her hands, and speaking very softly, something that was very uncharacteristic for her.  
  
Harry was too shocked to say anything. Suddenly all of his dreams came flooding back to him...the ones where he saw his mom trying to hide Julia to save her....the one where he saw Voldemort convince him to kill Hermione......the one where Harry joins Voldemort out of greed.....the one where Hermione and him are together, but Ron and Julia had died to save him..........  
  
[I] What does this note mean? What did those dreams mean? Am I supposed to be getting a warning.......or am I seeing the future? [/I]  
  
Hermione seemed to read Harry's mind. "Harry......whatever dreams you had showed you what might happen if we don't win.....but we can always change the future, the future depends on the actions we take in the present, and nothing is certain until it is actually done. Therefore the future can't be certain, and you shouldn't be certain that your dreams were right...they could be just the opposite, very wrong."  
  
Harry managed to force a weak smile. "Thanks Herm, I can always count on you." Harry hugged Hermione gently. He was scared.....more scared then he had ever been before. He couldn't stand the thought that his friends were in danger, and he couldn't stand the thought that Voldemort could take away everything worth living for.  
  
"Well, the note says five days, that means that Voldemort is planning his attack 5 days from now, which would be March 15. We have to move fast, I want everyone in the command center in ten minutes, we are going to have to move into the town and set up our base and plan our course of action." Harry was still very unsure of his leadership position, but somehow he just instinctively knew what to do.  
  
"Allright...hey Harry, what did you need to tell me?" Hermione asked.  
  
"It's something that I need to tell the entire team, I'll brief everyone on it in ten minutes."  
  
"Ok, I'll go gather everyone up."  
  
Exactly ten minutes later Harry entered the command center, everyone else was already at their stations, ready for their briefing.  
  
"Alright everyone, Hermione has confirmed during her investigation today that Voldemort is defiantly planning his attack for March 15, as we already suspected. This means that we need to begin moving into the Tinturn Alley area tonight, we have a lot of work to do in order to set up our base, and we still need to try and find out where the Malfoys are before March 15. Ron and Dylan came across some useful information about Tom Riddle, who is now more commonly known as Voldemort, and Lucious Malfoy. Riddle and Malfoy used to be best friends during their first four years at Hogwarts. In the beginning of their fifth year Malfoy had a crush on my mother. Riddle was insanely jealous and wanted my mom to hate Malfoy and fall in love with him. Riddle tried to frame Malfoy for something horrible, but he was caught. Malfoy never spoke with Riddle again and my mother meanwhile was furious with both of the boys. The Ides of March signifies the day that a great wizard was killed by the hand of his very best friend, it was a betrayal to end all other betrayals in history. Voldemort is planning to do the same thing, on the first day of the spring festival Voldemort is going to attack the village...making the big headlines, which is the fame he's always wanted. And then he's going to kill his best friend, betraying him for the final time. Then he is going to come after me. He is going to try and get me to join him, because he knows that he will have a chance of losing against the power of the Alliance, but if I join him, Voldemort gains the ulimate power never known before."  
  
Harry felt very weird telling the group about this last part. Everyone else in the room sat silently, most feeling to stunned to say anything.  
  
"So our task is going to be to secretly alert the city, but we have to do it in a way that Voldemort doesn't know we have done anything. We will then have to secure the Malfoy family and escort them to safety. And lastly there will be a confrontation with Voldemort.....a confrontation that will only be between me and him understand?"  
  
Harry had now narrowed his bright green eyes, and for the first time throughout the WIA journey he seemed like a strong and powerful leader.  
  
"One last thing.....if I join Voldemort the six of you must swear on your life that you will kill me and then take Voldemort down with me."  
  
Harry's last words seemed to echo forever throughout the command center. Slowly one by one each of the six members nodded their heads in understanding.  
  
They had all realized that the inevitable had arrived.......they were about to face the darkest most powerful force of evil in the world................  
  
Chapter Forty Nine: The Ides of March: Part Two  
  
Six of the seven young wizards began moving out of the main headquarters base late that night. Nick had been chosen, by Harry, to stay behind in the command center, watching on the large video screens. Nick's job was to direct the group of anything abnormal that they might not see while actually out in the field as well as to alert Dumbledor of the situation when he finally returned.........if he returned.  
  
The six young wizards traveled for most of the night. They finally found a secluded wooded area where they could set up their headquarters and still see the city of Tinturn Alley.  
  
Harry, Ron and Dylan worked quickly to set up the new headquarters. This time the headquarters consisted of one large tent, with six sleeping bags inside and the basic supplies each wizard had brought with them. Harry sprinkled the invisibility powder all over the headquarters so that it would be hidden from the rest of the world. The wizards had one single tree to use as their landmark to be able to find their way back to the tent.  
  
The group slept for a few hours before getting up and beginning the task of alerting the city of Tinturn Alley.  
  
Harry and Ron had levitated giant cases of Invisibilty powder to the new base area. Hermione and Julia were going to speak with the government council of Tinturn Alley today and explain the situation. If all goes well the citizens of Tinturn Alley will be issued a supply of invisibility powder, and then at midnight on March 15, all of the people in the city should "disappear" and begin heading for a secret location.  
  
"Herm, good luck out there." Harry said as Hermione and Julia were leaving for the city.  
  
"Thanks." Hermione said softly.  
  
Ron looked at Julia, he could tell that she wanted him to say something to her. Ron decided to out do Harry this time. Ron walked over to Julia and hugged her tightly "I love you" he whispered into her ear "be careful."  
  
Julia smiled and she headed out of the tent following Hermione.  
  
Harry was amused by what he had just seen. "Whoa, careful there Romeo, don't wear yourself out!" he teased.  
  
"Oh shutup you blimey...."  
  
"Ahem" Dylan said clearing his throat. "In case you guys kinda forgot we are going to face the worst evil in the world in a little less then 4 days, I don't know about you, but I kinda want to be prepared."  
  
Harry apologized to Dylan and Claudia, then regretfully he decided to apologize to Ron as well. The four of them set out to divide the invisibility powder for disturibution to the citizens of Tinturn Alley. Harry went to work conjuring up containers for the powder. Claudia and Ron were filling the containers and Dylan was packing the containers in a larger container which would then be levitated into the city.  
  
Everything seemed to be going fine when suddenly Harry's scar began to burn.  
  
"Ouch!" he cried as he reached up to hold his scar.  
  
"Harry what's wrong?" a worried Ron asked.  
  
Harry couldn't say anything, he couldn't even speak. The pain he was experiencing was the worst pain he had ever felt in his entire life. Harry by this time was now doubled over on the floor, he couldn't even scream, it hurt too much. Harry thought he heard something, something in his mind, but he couldn't hear what it was......he couldn't hear through all of the pain.  
  
[I] Come on Harry.....you can hear something, something faint.....concentrate, block the pain out.....concentrate.[/I]  
  
Harry used all of his energy to try and concentrate on the words he could faintly hear behind the immense pain.  
  
Finally he was just able to make out what.....or rather who is was.  
  
[I]Julia![/I]  
  
Chapter Fifty: Panic  
  
[I] Harry.....Harry.......oh please Harry....you have to hear me!!!!!!!!! We're too late......Voldemort has already attacked.......city......destroyed.......Draco......hostage.......Hermione.. ....taken.......here......with........death.........bodies...........Help!!! !!!!!!!!........Harry....HELP!!!!!!!!! [/I]  
  
Suddenly all of the pain Harry was experiencing was melted away into panic.  
  
"Julia!!!!!!!!!! They're in trouble!!!!!!!!! We have to go now!!!!!!!!!"  
  
Harry grabbed his wand and raced out of the tent. Ron, Dylan, and Claudia didn't need any convincing....they grabbed their wands as well and began sprinting towards the city.  
  
[I] Julia......Julia I hope you can hear me.......we're coming....just hold on!!!!!!!!!![/I]  
  
Harry ran at a speed that he never even knew was possible. Never before had Harry experienced the absolute dread that he was now being faced with. He ran for what seemed like an eternity before his finally heard Julia again.  
  
[I] Harry!!! Thank goodness......hurry!!!![/I]  
  
Ron, Dylan and Claudia meanwhile still didn't know what was going on.....all they knew is that something had gone terribly wrong. They were following at an all out running pace, close behind Harry.  
  
Finally Harry saw the edge of the city. He continued running. He didn't know what was guiding him, but something told him to head for the bookstore. He ran past the place where he first met Julia, all those months ago. He ran past the candy store, and the practical joke shop.....finally he reached the bookstore. He didn't even slow down, he continued at his running pace all the way to the back of the bookstore. Harry came to a halt when he reached the back. Nothing was there....no books, no calendar....no people....nothing that looked like Voldemort or his hostages were there.  
  
Ron meanwhile had entered the city to notice that extreme destruction had taken place. He stopped in his tracks, looking around at the grim surroundings. The buildings had been burned...the cobblestone streets had been destroyed, and no sign of any life existed.  
  
"Blimey..." Ron muttered under his breath.  
  
Dylan and Claudia soon reached Ron....they too were in complete shock. They stood for a moment looking around, trying to understand what had just happened to this city.  
  
Claudia finally spoke "Where did Harry go?" she said softly.  
  
Ron and Dylan looked around, "I don't know," Ron replied.  
  
There was no need to go looking for Harry, he came sprinting at full speed out of the bookstore into the once bright and happy main street.  
  
"They're not there!" he cried. "The vision was wrong...no one's in the bookstore!"  
  
"Harry....you need to try and contact Julia...she needs to guide us to her." Claudia said.  
  
[I] Julia......Julia can you hear me? [/I]  
  
A voice came quickly to Harry. [I] Harry! Yes, Harry! Hurry...please hurry!!![/I]  
  
[I] Where are you? I'm on my way.....just tell me where you are.[/I]  
  
[I] There's a secret porthole in the bookstore......its located beside the front shelf....press the red book......Hurry![/I]  
  
"It's the bookstore! They are in a secret room, c'mon!!!!!!" Harry once again ran at full speed back to the bookstore.  
  
Ron, Dylan and Claudia followed close behind.  
  
When Harry reached the bookstore once again he ran in and looked for the bookshelf. Suddenly he saw it...a red book that was sticking slightly out from the rest of the books. Harry pressed it and the wall dissolved.....Harry couldn't believe what he was looking at.  
  
He saw Hermione and Julia in a corner, tied up with their mouths taped. He saw Draco Malfoy in another corner bound and tied just like Julia and Hermione. Harry then looked at the back wall of the room and couldn't believe who was there...................  
  
Chapter Fifty One: Pure Evil  
  
THE DURSLEY'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Harry did a double take as he saw his Aunt Petunia, his Uncle Vernon, and his fat cousin Dudley tied up against the back wall of the room. Petunia and Dudley looked terrified, yet Uncle Vernon looked raging mad.  
  
Ron was obviously as surprised as Harry was. "Harry.....isn't that.."  
  
"Yeah." Harry muttered, signaling Ron to be quiet.  
  
Harry carefully stepped into the room He headed first for Julia and Hermione.....he quickly and quietly untied them. As soon as he had untied them, he hugged both of them tightly, "Are you guys ok?" he whispered.  
  
They both nodded. Both of them had no color left in their faces.  
  
Ron quickly came over to Julia and hugged her tightly...  
  
"Oh my gosh....you had us scared to death!"  
  
"Harry..." Hermione began quietly. "It's trap..we have to get out of here."  
  
Harry understood what Hermione meant, but they were too late. Just as he was turning to lead the group to safety out of the secret room he saw what he had been fearing most for the past four months.......  
  
An enourmous dark figure was standing blocking the entrance, laughing with evil amusement.  
  
"Well, well, well, and so we meet again Harry Potter!"  
  
"Whatever you want with me doesn't involve them" Harry said indicating to the others in the room. "Let them go, and then you can face me." Harry said confidently.  
  
"Ahh, but this is where you are mistaken you foolish mudblood lover. These people do concern you, and therefore they concern me." Voldemort said smugly  
  
Without even thinking Harry raised his wand. [I] "Exparlimous!!!!!!!!!"[/I] It did no good however, Voldemort held up a hand, deflected the spell and then threw it towards Dylan. Dylan dogged the spell not a minute to soon.  
  
"You really are foolish Harry......you are perhaps even more foolish then your father!"  
  
"Don't you bring my father into this!!! He was greater then you could have ever hoped to be!!!!!!"  
  
"Greater? Are you sure about that Harry? Your father got lucky, that stupid mudblood mother of yours was naïve, she couldn't see what was beneath the surface. She couldn't see how foolish your father truly was. She didn't know greatness when she saw it....and for that, she lost her life!"  
  
"SHE LOST HER LIFE TO SAVE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! SHE DIED TO PROTECT ME BECAUSE SHE LOVED ME, SOMETHING THAT SHE NEVER WOULD HAVE SHARED WITH YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Harry was now enraged, screaming at the top of his lungs.  
  
"My, my, do calm down. I would hate for any accidents to happen." Voldemort then shouted [I]Retratcto![/I] Hermione flew across the room, straight for Voldemort. Before Harry knew what had happened, Hermione was being held captative by Voldemort.  
  
The color drained from Harry's face as he saw Hermione shaking furiously with fear.  
  
"What will the great Harry Potter do now?????" Voldemort's wicked laugh penetrated the room. "What will he do? Will he kill the greatest evil to walk the earth, sacrificing his beloved mudblood girlfriend, or will he let the evil win......?" Voldemort was extremely amused.  
  
"I will never let you win Voldemort. You will never succeed, never." Harry was now narrowing his eyes, speaking ruthlessly to the evil dark lord.  
  
"Oh really Harry, you won't let me win? Well if you won't [I] Let [/I] me win, why don't you [I] Help [/I] me win instead?" Voldmorts smile could have frozen hot volcanos.  
  
"I will never join you.........I will die before I join you!"  
  
"Oh young Harry you do have so much to learn. Look around you, look at the people that have been taken captive that still remain behind you. They are the evil ones, they are the ones who have caused you nothing but misery your entire life. They are the ones that are the enforcers of evil, they are the ones who deserve to be punished."  
  
Harry knew what Voldemort was doing....he was trying to fuel Harry's anger to make him vulnerable to the ways of dark magic.  
  
"Together we can destroy this evil, we will rule the world together......the power is endless."  
  
"NEVER VOLDEMORT, NEVER WILL I JOIN YOU!!!!!!"  
  
For the first time in Harry's life he actually looked at the Dursley's with some since of compassion. He knew that if he allowed his hatred for them to overcome him that Voldemort would win...and Harry wasn't about to let that happen.  
  
What Harry didn't see was that Dylan had been busy untying Draco from his bounds. Draco took out his wand and approached Voldemort.  
  
"If you want to take Potter, you are going to have to take me with him." Draco's chilling voice filled the air.  
  
Harry and Ron almost did a double take by what they had just heard. But Draco Malfoy was standing with his wand confidently drawn, pointing towards Voldemort.  
  
One by one the WIA members formed a circle around Voldemort.  
  
"If you are going to take them, then you have to take me with them as well!" Claudia shouted.  
  
"I'm not going to let them do this....so I'm joining them.....the alliance is together until the end." Dylan said confidently.  
  
"And you are not taking down the best friend any guy could ever ask for without coming through me first!" Ron said stubbornly.  
  
"And if you think I'm going to let my brother fall into your hands then you're wrong Voldemort, you have finally met your match."  
  
The seven young wizards stood in a circle around Voldemort, their wands drawn and ready for action. Hermione was still being held hostage in the sky beside Voldemort.  
  
The great showdown was about to begin.  
  
Chapter Fifty Two: Showdown  
  
[I] EXPARLIMIS!!!!!!!!!!![/I] They all shouted together as Voldemort's wand flew high into the air, well beyond his reach.  
  
"Ha Ha Ha!! You think that a simple disarming charm will stop me!!!!!!!! YOU FOOLS!!!!!!" Voldemort raised his hands...  
  
[I] PETRIFIROR!!!!!!!!!!!!![/I] A bright green light shot from the tips of Voldemort's fingers. Harry and Julia quickly raised both of their wands to deflect the green light, they threw it back at Voldemort, he dodged however and the spell hit the wall.  
  
The exchange of spells and counter spells continued for the next ten minutes as the skills of each of the seven young wizards was put to the test.  
  
One by one however, Voldemort seemed to be winning. Voldemort had hit Claudia with a dazing spell that caused her to sit in a corner looking blankly at the room. Dylan had been bound by a series of green twisting vines that had tied him to a beam in the celing above where Malfoy was present. Ron had been hit with a freezing spell, and was frozen in the corner next to the Dursleys.  
  
Hermione meanwhile was still floating in the air next to Voldemort, a hostage.  
  
Julia and Harry were the only ones left standing.  
  
[I] Harry, I'll work on freeing Hermione if you just occupy him for a little while [/I]  
  
Harry was amazed at how loud and clear he could hear Julia since they were standing practically next to each other. Harry was careful not to make any kind of facial gestures to her that might tip Voldemort off before replying [I] Alright [/I]  
  
"Voldmort....what do you want with them?" Harry asked bodly indicating the others present in the room. "Why don't you just take me instead?"  
  
"Harry...you really are foolish aren't you. Well maybe this will help you to see the brillance and power that only I can show you. Take a good look around Harry. What do all of my hostages have in common?"  
  
Harry looked around the room. He saw Malfoy, and Ron. Hermione, Claudia and Dylan. All Hogwarts students..but then there was the Dursley's. What could they possibly have in common with the others?  
  
"Harry, think about it carefully. Aside from you little 'aliance' friends, I brought people that I knew would trigger a certain feeling inside of you."  
  
Harry looked around once more....he still didn't see whatever Voldemort was trying to show him. Meanwhile he stole a glance at Julia. His plan was working....Julia was working on freeing Hermione.  
  
"BAH!!!!!! You are a disgrace......your wisdome sure doesn't live up to it's fame Potter!! HATE Potter.....look at them," Voldemort indicated the Dursleys and then Malfoy. "For the last five years those people caused you nothing but hate towards them. Am I wrong Harry? I know that you have often wished you could rid yourself of those horrible muggles!! And as for Mr. Malfoy I know that you have always loathed him, you would do anything to see him suffer!"  
  
"YOU'RE WRONG!!!!!!!!" Harry screamed.  
  
"Harry, I brought them here as a present for you...so that you may take out your ultimate revenge, so that you may rid yourself of the terrible things they have done to you. So that you can gain your fullest power possible."  
  
"No........" Harry began to trail off... "No Voldemort you got it wrong. I [I]Dislike[/I] the Dursley's and Malfoy....but the one person I hate more then anything else in the world is YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! I loathe you with every ounce of strength in my soul. You took away my parents...you destroyed the life of my god father......you tried to kill me..you tried to kill my friends!!!!!! No Voldemort you are wrong. I will never use my hate to destroy these people you have brought...I will only use my anger to fuel my power to avenge the deaths of my parents......and to set my godfather free once and for all. I will use my [I] power [/I] to uphold goodness!" Harry didn't even know what happened next, but suddenly he raised his wand and cast several different spells. Blue, Purple, Red, and Green light flashed from the end of his wand.  
  
Voldemort deflected each one of the spells..... "Well, I underestimated you, but sadly enough I am left with no other choice other then to kill [I] her! [/I]"  
  
Voldemort turned to Hermione, who Julia still hadn't been able to free. [I] AVRA KADAVRA!!!![/I] A bright burst of green light was released from his finger tips.  
  
As Voldemort cast his killing curse on Hermione, Harry literally flew through the air towards her..... "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
Julia also instinctively lept towards Hermione from the opposite side of Harry. She flew through the air, with her wand raised in the air towards Harry. Harry was holding his wand out in front of him as well.  
  
Julia's wand met Harry's in midair, a bright blue light bolted from the joined wands. The blue light met the green light, and threw the green light back at Voldemort.  
  
Voldmort didn't have time to react.....the Killing spell hit him with the added force of the deflection from Harry and Julia's wands. Voldemort was knocked backwards onto the ground where he slowly began to dissolve.  
  
Harry and Julia meanwhile hit the floor at the same time with a painful force. Hermione was realeased from her captivity and crashed to the ground as well.  
  
The room was silent for the next few moments.....Harry was the first to get up.  
  
"Is everyone ok?" He asked groggily.  
  
"I think so." Julia responded.  
  
"Thanks, guys, I owe you one." Hermione said weakly.  
  
Harry rushed over to Hermione, and scooped her up into his arms. "I was so scared he was going to ki....."  
  
"Shhhhhhhh, it's ok Harry, I'm fine." Hermione said gently.  
  
Harry and Hermione sat in each others arms for a long time, both grateful that the other was still alive.  
  
Julia meanwhile had begun untying Malfoy and the Dursleys.  
  
"I swear boy when I get my bloody hands on you...." Uncle Vernon had seemed to recover from the shock of the past events, and was now making his way to Harry, looking ruthless for some revenge.  
  
Julia, thinking quickly, cast a freezing spell on him, before he could contribute to the damage that was already done.  
  
"Wow, I guess he's not a very grateful man is he?" Julia said jokingly.  
  
"Yeah..he's always been kind of an angry man." Harry said causally, while still attending to Hermione.  
  
Julia continued making her way around the room, undoing some of the spells and untying Voldemort's hostages.  
  
Harry breathed a sigh of relief.....Voldemort was gone, and hermione was safe....his dreams had been wrong.  
  
Chapter Fifty Three: Picking up the pieces.  
  
Within minutes Dumbledor soon arrived with the ministry aurors. They were as usual late and were really just there to clean up the events that had just unfolded.  
  
Harry and Julia sat down with Dumbledor to explain everything to him. Dumbledor just sat silently listening to them, his eyes were dancing with laughter once again.  
  
"Professor, the only thing I don't understand is why Voldemort attacked early, did he find out our plans or what was happening?" Harry asked.  
  
"Ah...Harry even the best of us sometimes can't explain the ways of the dark arts. Voldemort did indeed know that something was being planned against him, or else he wouldn't have attacked early, but how or when he found out will remain a mystery forever."  
  
Harry sighed heavily, he could always count on Dumbledor to have the answers, but he had forgotten what it was like to not receive one from him.  
  
"Professor, excuse me for sounding rude, but how did you all know what had happened?" Julia asked, rather timidly.  
  
"Oh yes.....I almost forgot, it was wise of Mr. Potter to leave one person behind, for that one person became the only contact to the ministry. Without Mr. Potter's thinking we still might not be here." Dumbledor was indicating to the ministry wizards as well as the one familiar face Harry had almost not seen in all of the commotion: Nick.  
  
A smile crept up on Harry's face. He walked over to Nick.  
  
"Thanks for bailing us out....we all owe yah one."  
  
"Oh, no really, don't say that. All I did was get a hold of the ministry, we all showed up to late, you guys down here are the true heroes of the day."  
  
Just then, a familiar, but unwelcome face approached Harry. It was none other then, Draco Malfoy.  
  
"I guess I owe you one Potter, thanks for saving my skin........"  
  
"Well actually you don't owe just me...you owe all of us," Harry said indicating the other WIA members that were now surrounding him.  
  
"If it wasn't for all of their hard work, we never would have found you in time."  
  
Malfoy was for the first time since Harry had known him, actually looking grateful.  
  
"Well, anyways, thanks everyone, I truly owe you one."  
  
Malfoy turned and headed for the door.  
  
Dumbledor was meanwhile tending to the Dursley's. Harry, who was keeping a safe distance from them was unfortuantly noticed by Dumbledor and asked to join them. Harry approached them, cautiously. He saw however, almost immediately, that Dumbledor had put all three of the Dursley's under a frezzing charm.  
  
"Harry, do you know why Voldemort brought them here?" The wise professor asked.  
  
"Well....um.....I think that he brought them here to try to fuel my anger and hatred, so that I would ultimately join him instead."  
  
"Ah......yes.......I see. Very well then Harry."  
  
Harry was a little confused as to why Dumbledor called him over for just one question.  
  
"Oh and Harry, if you don't mind we are going to have to wipe their memories clean of today's events."  
  
"Of course not Professor, anything for the protection of muggles. Hey, do you think that maybe they could wipe me from all of their memories too?"  
  
Dumbledor chuckled slighty. "Harry, you always have had a since of humor haven't you?"  
  
Dumbledor then turned to get ready to aparate back to the ministry. Harry had decided to sit down and relax........something he hadn't done for almost 5 months.  
  
Chapter Fifty Four: Return to Hogwarts  
  
After a month of exhausting work, the seven WIA members finally returned to Hogwarts.  
  
Harry had never before been so relieved to see the majestic castle sitting atop the hillside.  
  
"Wow it feels good to finally be home, our real home." Hermione sighed as they approached the main castle doors.  
  
Harry, being the gentleman that he is opened the door for Hermione, Ron and Julia were close behind. Dylan, Claudia and Nick were behind them.  
  
Once inside they headed for their common rooms. Ron and Julia walked ahead of Harry and Hermione on their way back up to the Gryffindor Tower.  
  
"It's going to be good to finally be able to sleep in our own beds again, won't it?" Julia said.  
  
"Yeah........" Ron trailed off, he was a little preoccupied with something else. Ever since they had headed home from Tinturn Alley, he had been thinking about his relationship with Julia. He after all had told her that he loved her, right before she left with Hermione, walking straight into Voldemort's trap. She didn't say anything back though, she just smiled and left. And then when they rescued them from Voldemort's trap, she once again said nothing.......  
  
"Ron is something wrong?"  
  
Apparently Julia was beginning to read minds other then Harry's.  
  
"Um......well......alright......can we talk about something?" Ron finally sighed.  
  
Julia now looked concerned.  
  
"Ah....sure. What's up?"  
  
Ron looked around, realizing that the common room was quiet full and Harry and Hermione would be coming any moment. "Well, could we go somewhere else and talk?"  
  
"Yeah, C'mon my room's probably empty. Even though I share rooms with Herm and the other girls, no one should be there now."  
  
Julia carefully led Ron up to the room she shared with the other Gryffindor fifth year girls. She made sure that no one saw Ron go up to the girl's dormitories with her.  
  
Julia knocked quietly on the door "is anyone there?"  
  
No answer.  
  
She opened the door and looked inside, sure enough it was empty.  
  
Julia led Ron into the room. Ron noted that it looked the same as the room he shared with the boys, except there seemed to be a lot more pink, and it smelled funny.......it smelled like flowers and other sweet things.  
  
Julia giggled when she saw the face Ron was making "Well.....this is a [I]girls[/I] room, what were you expecting?"  
  
"Dunno"  
  
"Ok, so then what did you want to talk about?"  
  
Ron sighed heavily again.....he knew he was going to have to ask her how she felt....there was no other way around it.  
  
"Ok, well, see........." Ron was trying to beat around the bush so to speak. "Julia..How do you feel about me?"  
  
Julia was taken aback by the question, obviously surprised.  
  
"I mean.....it's just that I kinda have feelings for you......and well I was just wondering if you felt the same......."  
  
Before Ron could finish his explanation Julia leaned in and kissed him. The strange, yet wonderful thing was though that Julia had never kissed him like this before, this time it was different......it was passoniate.......full of love.  
  
Julia's eyes were sparkling when they pulled apart. "Does that answer your question?" she asked smiling flirtatiously.  
  
Ron couldn't speak he just blushed a deep crimson red.  
  
Before either of them could say anything else Hermione came rushing in the room. She was startled to see Ron sitting there with Julia.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry....I didn't mean to interrupt."  
  
"That's ok Hermione...Julia and I were just on our way down to get some dinner, we're starving."  
  
Julia took the hint and followed Ron out of the room, smiling sweetly at Hermione as she left.  
  
Hermione stood in the middle of the room looking very confused as to what just happened.  
  
Hermione decided to start putting her things away. When she turned around to begin unpacking her trunk she suddenly felt someone grab her by the waist.  
  
"So would the most beautiful girl in the world like to come have dinner with me?" a deep voice said in her ear.  
  
Hermione smiled and turned around to see Harry's emerald green eyes looking deeply at her.  
  
"If I turned down a dinner invitation from the most handsome guy in the world I would be crazy."  
  
Harry smiled and kissed Hermione gently on the forehead. They both left to head down to the great hall.  
  
It was good to finally be back at Hogwarts, good to finally be home.  
  
Chapter Fifty Five: A new member.  
  
Harry and Hermione entered the Great Hall amongst the staring of the rest of the Hogwarts students. As with most other news, the stories about Voldemort's defeat had already fun their way like wildfire through much of the school. Harry and Hermione made their way over to where Ron and Julia were sitting.  
  
"Psst..Harry, check it out." Hermione muttered under her breath, looking towards Ron and Julia.  
  
Harry looked over, but didn't see anything unusual. "What about them?"  
  
"Look how close they're sitting next to each other! Don't they make a cute couple?"  
  
"Yeah, whatever. Let's go get something to eat. I'm starving."  
  
Harry sat down next to Ron and immediately started a conversation about Quidditch.  
  
"So what do you think our chances are?" Ron asked.  
  
"What do you mean our chances? We've got one of the best teams in the history of Hogwarts, Slytherine might as well just kiss the Quiddtich cup goodbye."  
  
Harry and Ron both chuckled before beginning their conversation about the strategy for the upcoming final game.  
  
Hermione meanwhile could tell that Julia was also bored, so she got up and moved to sit next to her.  
  
Before they could start discussing what they would be wearing to the end of the year ball (a new tradition for students in the 4th year and up.) Nick came rushing over to the Gryffindor table.  
  
"Professor Dumbledor needs to speak with us in his office."  
  
Hermione, looking disappointed sighed as she got up to follow Nick towards the Headmaster's office. Harry, Ron and Julia followed close behind.  
  
When they reached Professor Dumbledor's office, the door was already open, and someone they didn't expect to be seeing was already sitting in a chair.....  
  
Draco Malfoy.  
  
"Ah, now that everyone is here, why don't you all take a seat." Dumbledor said calmly as he indicated to the large overstuffed chairs that sat in front of the welcoming fire.  
  
Harry looked just as shocked as the rest of the group was to see Draco.  
  
[I] What's this about? [/I] he thought to himself.....  
  
[I] I'm sure everything's fine Harry, let's just hear Dumbledor out.....[/I]  
  
Harry was startled by Julia's response. He had forgotten how good she had become in her mind training.  
  
Julia smirked, seeing how startled Harry was that she had answered his thoughts back.  
  
"First of all I want to offer my deepest thanks and congratulations to each of you. What you did out there in Spain really was amazing."  
  
The seven WIA members beamed with pride.  
  
"Secondly, we have another bit of business to cover. As you know, Mr. Lucious Malfoy has resigned his position here at Hogwarts and is now in the custody of the ministry for quesitioning on his continued involvment with Lord Voldemort. It turns out, Mr. Malfoy was planning to sacrifice his son to Voldemort in order to gain a higher position of power with the dark lord."  
  
Somehow none of the members seemed surprised by this...they always knew that Mr. Malfoy was up to something, and that something defiantly wasn't good either.  
  
"Draco here though found out what his father was planning to do and came to me months before any of this began to happen. He has been acting these past four months as a double agent for the ministry. He agreed to allow himself to be taken by Voldemort in hopes that we would in turn track Voldemort down, defeat him and take his father into custody."  
  
Harry was shocked by this news......[I] Draco was on OUR side?[/I]  
  
This time, Julia didn't need to respond, Harry knew that everyone in the room was just as shocked as he was.  
  
"Because of young Mr. Malfoy's brave commitment to the ministry and to myself he is from here on out an active member of the WIA. Now originally the WIA was only supposed to consist of seven members. The old tales of magic tell us that seven is the number of harmony, the number that brings down evil. But because of Mr. Malfoy's brave act of selflessness the ministry has approved the eighth position to be instated."  
  
Once again, the seven members sat there in silence. No one particularly liked Malfoy, Ron looked especially enraged.  
  
Dumbledor said a few closing remarks and then left to attend to some other Hogwarts business.  
  
The eight young wizards sat in the cozy office, not saying anything to each other for a long time. Harry finally got up the nerve to do what he, as leader, was supposed to do. He stood up and addressed the group.  
  
"I know that we have all been through a lot these past weeks, and this new addition is going to be a change for all of us, but it is a change that will ultimately benefit everyone in the long run. So as the leader of the Wizards Intellangence Agency I would like to officially welcome Mr. Draco Malfoy to the group."  
  
And then Harry walked over to Draco and did something he never thought he'd do..he shook his hand...... 


End file.
